Books as Doorways: Thoughts about Summer Reading

 

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

    People seem to read less and less every year. This trend saddens me because children, teens, and adults alike will miss the way books can expand thinking and perspective or increase the ability to empathize with others. They also miss an opportunity to cultivate character and faith.  

    When I was growing up, summers usually included an emphasis on book reading. Of course, my mother read to my sisters and me throughout the year. She even had a special fenced-in area built in the back of our yard that she called “the secret garden.” There, sitting on plastic chairs among birds singing, she would turn on an audiobook. I vividly remember sitting in one of those chairs, slightly unsteady on the bricks, listening to parts of the Artemis Fowl series.

    Summer, though, brought reading challenges and events at the library. As a child, this looked like attending story time in which an elderly librarian read us picture books or staged a play with puppets. Movies were also sometimes involved and plenty of charts to color in as we finished books. Later, my mother sent my sisters and me to the library for teenager-themed events such as making collages or a hobbit house. We often spent hot or stormy afternoons browsing shelves of books and leaving with armfuls of new stories.

    There’s always something about a stack or shelf of books that excites me. Some people only see books gathering dust. But me? I see doorways into new worlds waiting to be explored, adventures that take me out of day-to-day problems, new friends to make and old ones to visit, and different perspectives to learn and consider. Books entertain but also teach and give encouragement.

    During those summers, I learned about history, the world, and places that fill the imaginations of countless people. In the pages of The Witch of Blackbird Pond, I learned more about colonial America while books like The Nine Pound Hammer series introduced me to American folklore. Traveling for vacation was not an affordable option for my family in my tweens or teens, but I could “travel” to places like Sherwood Forest, Camelot, and Middle-earth. I could also visit Victorian England with Sherlock Holmes or join Sebastian and his cat, Presto, on a journey in The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian. Numerous adventures awaited me without having to leave home.

    The options for encountering new stories were endless. As a teenager, I eagerly discovered that my local library carried other titles from J. R. R. Tolkien. Roverandom was a delightful find, pulling me out of the setting of my everyday life to travel to the moon and sea with Rover and to meet a sand wizard. If I could go back, I would advise my teenage self to wait to read The Children of Hurin in the context of The Silmarillion instead of as a standalone story (since I would have found solace knowing that the reader is not supposed to like Turin). However, learning more about the history of Middle-earth was enjoyable. Tolkien’s writings always contained a sense of purpose and beauty mixed with sadness, which intrigued me. I never tired of exploring the world he made.  

    Some people may think that all of this proves that kids and teenagers merely need entertainment during the summer. The books my mother read to me and those I enjoyed on my own did keep me occupied. My reading skills were also sharpened, and I learned about other places, people, and cultures.

    Visiting the library and developing a love for reading, though, was much more than escapism and entertainment. In books, I encountered people who took part in quests that were greater than themselves. Characters sacrificed for those they loved and cultivated enduring friendships. These stories brought me joy and sorrow, and sometimes a combination of both. I believe God used this time to grow within me the longing to be a part of something greater, to know that my life, too, had meaning. The yearning increased the older I got, and I delved farther into books to try and discover the source of it all. Little did I know that the Lord was leading me to Himself, drawing me closer to the point when I would place faith in Him. For in Jesus, I found the fulfillment of my yearning. I might not travel to Mount Doom to destroy a powerful ring like Frodo and Samwise, but in Christ, I learned that my life has a purpose – one that is grander than any quest or mission in a story.

    Lessons and themes we glean from books as kids and the ones we learn now are worth the effort of walking into a bookstore or library. Some will question our choice to tuck ourselves away for a few moments each day to read a story. Others may say we are wasting our time. But those of us who know the True Story understand that the books we read can lead to great discoveries and opportunities for growth. Hope, courage, adventure, sacrificial love, and a longing for home can be found within the pages of books. We may even find that a story leads us straight to the Great Author Himself.