Books are an entity that I love with a passion, that passion though has not always been there. When I was a child, I grew up around a culture and family whom basically had no interest in books or the written text. It was a movie and cartoon orientated pop culture, novels were the "uncool" subject. Year's later when I reached elementary school I realized my error. Book's weren't "uncool" or "stupid", they were beautiful and mind-riveting.

You know what pulled me to that state of mind? The need to prove people wrong. When I was younger I always used to carry around a "Harry Potter" book and was similar to the typical kid pretending to read to seem smart. After awhile people began pointing out it was to big of a book for a kid my age, or to difficult for me to understand. That lit a fire under me.

I absolutely hated people saying I couldn't do something; exspecially when they backed their claim up with age. So, I sat down and began peeling the book apart piece by piece. Of course I didn't understand it at first like everyone had keep telling me, but I trudged through. I keep on and on until the plot and weird words became clearer and clearer.

After I finally finished and made understanding of the book I realized something. It was amazing! Being able to read something that was basically a movie and have more description and detail than the actual movie. I was able to create my own perceptions of the characters without it having to be tainted by bad actors or simply badly made movies.

With this information tow I jumped headfirst into the ocean of literature and beautiful, beautiful words. J.K. Rowelling, Suzanne Collins, Anthony Horowitz, Dan Brown, Shakesphere, Homer, Mark Twain, all becoming the muses of my heart. Books were not "stupid" anymore they were so much more. They took me away to a place reality could no longer compare to.

For which reason I personally believe schools really need to stress from early on how important reading is. I mean that in every sense of the word. I know teachers always stress for their students to read, but thats simply not enough. In Kindergarden I remember our teacher made it so we were allowed in only one section of the library; picture books. Ok, I understand normally kids that age don't really understand big novels or books, but making it so they only have access to pictures is taking it a step to far. It made me depend on pictures, which was before my "Harry Potter" revelation.

If schools begin the studying of more sophisticated reading in younger ages the children will only benefit in the future. Pictures books are ok, but they are not enough to stimulate a childs mind. I can say my performance in school significantly improved after I discovered my love for books.

Previous grades in literature and english skyrocketed. I was able to understand more and more. With each book I read I gained a larger vocabulary, as well as knowledge. It benefited me greatly in the long run, something children need nowadays.

 If the importance of books is more greatly stressed in todays schools, America will be on a track to a better future for the children.