My Love for Books

I saw my mom dusting ‘n’ number of books and putting them back on the shelves. I heard her complaining about the value of ‘n’ increasing year by year. I picked up those heavy, hard-bound books one by one and flipped through the pages. There were very few pictures and it didn’t seem attractive to Me, then a student in third grade.

She stopped to rest for a while. I sat beside her and she asked me to read the book. I tried reading it but never understood. The book didn’t have any good pictures and the letters were very small to read. For some time I pretended reading and when my mom left the place, I started searching for a book with big, bold letters and good pictures. I found a small book “Oliver Twist” by “Charles Dickens” and the publishers “S. Chand & Company”. In the first page of the book, it was mentioned “Easy English”. I was very happy and decided it’s for me..!!

I hid the book under my pillow and slept. The next day, I completely forgot about the book as I was busy fighting with my brother for my turn to ride our bicycle. We fought and got nice thrashings from my mom. I went back to my bed.. to cry. Just then I remembered “Oliver Twist”.

I was not sure I would understand but the word “Easy English” was encouraging. I started reading and within few minutes I was deep into it. Oliver was selected by his friends to ask for some more gruel. “Please sir, I want some more”, frightened Oliver asked Mr. Bumble.

My brother peeked into the room and finding me with the book, started teasing me. Bumble beat Oliver, Amy* beat Anna, Anna beat Amy.. Oliver cried, Amy cried 😦

So that was how I started reading novels. After finishing the book, I continued reading other novels like “A Tale of Two Cities”, “David Copperfield”, “Jane Eyre” and “Great Expectations” and many other books—all in easy English 🙂 until I got promoted to the seventh grade.

*My parents call me Amy

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