It was in 4th grade when my mom had a surprise for me as I got back from school. Was it the new PlayStation, a new RC car, or a new pair of shoes? To my disappointment, it was books. Of all things…books. At this time, all I knew of books were textbooks and picture books, neither of which were particularly appealing to me. The packaging for this set of books however was quite unusual, it was a brightly colored box and had forty thin comic books in it. These books were captivating because of their wide array of colors and oddly shaped characters, and as a boy who was 9 years old, I couldn’t have asked for anything more in books. Despite these alluring characteristics, I held off on reading these comics for a considerable amount of time. Until one summer day, when it was too hot to play outside and my Nintendo ran out of battery. I sat on my bed, scanning my room trying to find something to cure me of my boredom. My sight fell on those books. So I decided to read the first few pages of the book, and I was fascinated. Right then, I sat down and started reading the first book. The book was focused on the protagonist, Asterix, and his sidekick (whose name I can’t remember), who was an astonishingly large character and loved boar. Each different book seemed to have a different focus, similar to crime TV shows where each episode is focused on one perpetrator/crime. I remember in a book that Asterix was in Egypt with Cleopatra, and when he confronted Caesar in Rome. These books took me all around the world, experiencing so many adventures and gaining much knowledge while I was simply sitting on a couch. I thought of reading these books as a way to simply enter a new world. A world of peak imagination where no real-world laws or rules seemed to apply. My means of entertainment slowly shifted from watching unrealistic kids’ shows to an unrealistic comic book, but reading a book made me feel like my time was better spent. I started to cultivate the idea of reading for entertainment, and maybe even passion. I had found a new path that I was set to explore. I ended up reading to the point where I lost track of time, finishing multiple books in a sitting. This is something that, up until this point, I had never done. The feeling was new and strange, but I was hooked. In a matter of days, I ended up finishing the entire series. I felt greatly accomplished, a boy who could barely sit for half an hour to read, spent hours reading these books. As I look back at these books, it wasn’t simply the bright colors that engaged me, it was the story and the way I envisioned myself as one of the characters. These books helped me realize that reading is not boring and plain and that many books lead to exciting adventures in a completely new world, fiction or nonfiction. These books hold great value in my life, especially on my path to fostering a passion for reading. As I had found tranquility when I needed it most.
Earliest Reading Memory
on
Adi, his friend’s name is Obelix! I haven’t thought of those books in some time, but they used to be my favorite comics when I was younger. I loved reading about their ridiculous adventures together, the funny names (Tragicomix, Selectivemploymentax, etc.), the way that the font changed based on the nationality of the character, and just their antics in general would never fail to make me laugh. I also have a lot of respect for the translators for being able to preserve the original wordplay and humor, making it possible for my friends and I to laugh at the same events in the story even though we were reading it in different languages. Anyway, I think that comics and graphic novels are a great way for people to get into reading. My sister had a similar experience to you – she was reluctant to spend her time reading when, in her opinion, Minecraft was way more fun. Eventually, she started reading graphic novels, which made her more open to start reading longer books. Thanks for sharing your experience, I enjoyed reading it!
I haven’t read comics in a long time, but I would agree that they, as well as books as a whole, bring tranquility. Being able to see the characters interact with each other and a strong plot around those characters, at least for me, makes storytelling fulfilling. When I was younger, I would spend much time looking through comic books at the library or at home. It was easy to get the gist of the plot without much time commitment, making them naturally more fast paced. My father had some superhero comics and Sunday comics collections lying around which helped me have a better idea of what I wanted out of a comic book. That being said, as I’ve aged novels have become more fulfilling to me than comics. The process of envisioning images in my own mind allows for creativity who how the characters and landscapes look whereas comics lock those ideas into the images provided by the illustrator.
I think it’s really cool that you got into reading because of the Asterix comic series. My younger brother is obsessed with Asterix so now we have all of the comics lying about our house. I’m pretty sure my dad also read them a lot when he was younger, and he’s the one that introduced my brother to them. I’ve read a few of the comics myself and found them very humorous. I believe that comic books are a great pathway to reading and are very entertaining. I like your point on how you switched from watching unrealistic kids shows to reading unrealistic comic books. It is true how reading books and comics can feel like you’re watching a movie or show, as your imagination can come up with so much. However, it’s a lot better than watching shows because apparently your brain works less watching TV than looking at a blank wall.