Usually when you tell someone you don’t want to do something, you expect them to just understand and walk away. Even though I had been asked multiple times if I had read “The Hunger Games” the answer was still no. And then I continued on saying that I didn’t want to read it… ever. It had become too popular and I just wasn’t interested in joining the great phenomenon that was “The Hunger Games. ” I didn’t see the point. That was my stubborn attitude about the subject until my eleventh birthday when I received a gift I wasn’t expecting.
Birthday parties are supposed to be fun, right? You get a group of friends together and they hand you presents. A ten, going on eleven, year old’s dream. There comes a time before the birthday party where your friends ask you what you want and you either tell them or say I don’t know. It’s usually the latter for me because who actually knows what they want for their birthday? So this is the setting for me on that fateful day–my birthday. It’s a joyous time in the Meneghetti household. My friends are sitting around me. A cake my mother made me sits in the front of me.
The candles glow bright with the anticipation of being blown out as my mother turns out the lights and the awkward feeling grows inside me as my friends start to sing happy birthday. Oh that dreaded song! What am I supposed to do while their singing it? Just smile and wave? As they go through the lyrics I think about today… and what a great day it is! Presents sit on the counter about two feet away as I stealthily look at them. I love presents. Usually I try not to pay attention to them and act like they’re not even there, but I know they’re there.
I can feel their presence and all I want to do is just jump in circles and rip open the presents, but no, I must be calm. The song finally ends and we’re all smiling as my mom hands us cake and we dig in. As we finish eating, I stare at my mom with the biggest puppy face I can muster. “Can we open presents now?!! ” I ask, almost jumping up and down in my seat. “Okay, sweetie! ” She smiles and hands me the first one. I rip it open and see it’s from my friend Scarlett. Removing the tissue paper, I spot something I was not expecting to see. A boxset of the entire “The Hunger Games” series.
Well then, I think, this is going to be interesting. Topen the rest of my presents and smile. Most of what sits in front of me is craft boxes, but who cares? I’m just happy my friends are here and that there is cake. The only thing wrong is the one present buried underneath all of the wrapping paper. I think of when I just unwrapped the box set minutes ago and sigh. I’ve told everyone that I didn’t ever want to read “The Hunger Games” because it’s just too popular and seems like a boring story to me and what does she do? She buys me the one thing I didn’t want! I think.
I know I sound like a spoiled brat, but after l’ve told everyone I didn’t want to read those specific books, she went and bought them. I’m pretty sure I can get a little mad at that. “Thanks so much for the gifts, guys! ” I say to my friends. They smile and their attention goes elsewhere. We leave the kitchen and go to the living room where we talk and talk and talk and talk. Then when the others are somewhere else she asks me about it. “So do you like your gift? ” Scarlett asks. “Yeah… it’s just that I didn’t really want to read them,” I reply. “Oh. I could’ve sworn you wanted to.
“It’s okay. I still like it,” I say with a smile. And then it’s forgotten. The night goes on and I don’t give any thought to it. Days pass as my presents sit in the corner of my room, slowly being forgotten. “Clean your room! ” My mom tells asks me randomly one day, so I trudge in there and begin cleaning. It’s then that | see my pile of birthday gifts. Sifting through the cards and presents other gifts, I see the books, pick them up, and stare. Guilt starts to seep into my bones from the fact that she spent money on something that I don’t want to ever read.
Setting them off to the side, I cleaned up the rest of my stuff and the books just sat there for a bit longer in the corner of my bedroom. Now the one thing that affected my pre-teen years was boredom. I always get bored during weekends, summers, and even weekdays. Fun Fact: I’m always bored all of the time. And it just so happens that this day, I was really bored. So bored that when I went into my room and saw the books, I decided to read them. That’s how bored I was. I thought to myself that it wouldn’t be that bad if I read a little bit. What could go wrong? Or in this case, what could go right?
Tripped off the plastic and pulled out the first book. The cover felt smooth, almost rubbery, and it was heavier than I thought it would be given the book had thin pages and only about 300 of them. Slowly turning open the pages, I flipped to page one of the first chapter and began doing what I had stubbornly said no to for awhile. I began reading “The Hunger Games”… and boy should I have read it sooner. I devoured the words one after another and soon the book had become a part of my everyday life. I read it whenever I got the chance. Day and night. The story had come alive and dragged me into it.
When I read, I experienced a feeling I had never felt. Everytime I read a chapter from the book, it drawed me in more. I traveled into the book and soon it became a part of me. One day it was Chapter 13 and the next it was Chapter 21. There was no stopping me as I read and read and read. I began to talk to my friends about it and they recommended other books for me to read. I finished the first book, then I read the second, “Catching Fire,” and lastly|| read “Mockingjay”. This was the best book series I had ever read in all of my eleven years of being on earth.
My brain began to beg me for more reading material as time grew on. Reading began to teach me new things that I hadn’t known before. As my thirst for reading grew, I felt like I was becoming smarter as well. How could a book change so much of a person in so little time? Over the years I’ve found this community of people just like me. I’ve made friends that absolutely love books. We obsess over them, watch the movies, and just enjoy reading. Books have made my experience with life so much more intriguing. It’s amazing how much just 26 letters in the alphabet put together to create words can change a person when written right.
I’ve found this community of people that understand my love for books and they accept me for that. I’ve found even more happiness from reading. By reading, I’ve become great friends with the staff at the Rochester Public Library and now I have my own writers group there because of how influential reading has been to me. It’s opened up many opportunities for me and helped me discover things I love to do. I’ve learned that if you don’t try new things, you may never find that one thing that you’re so passionate about. Reading has forever changed me and if you’ll now excuse me, I’ve got a long TBR list that I must attend to.