New Athenian Academy

“The idea: time travel through books.  I left the machine [a cardboard box basically] in the classroom, buckled and locked closed with lots of signs all over it: ‘Top secret!’… The big question buzzing: Is it real? Does it really work? A tricky question.  I recollect clambering over laundry bags in the back of my parents closet, eyes clamped closed, on hand groping, praying that I might enter C.S. Lewis’s Narnia.  Or, moving forward delicately, eyes closed once again, toward the mirror in our dining room in the hopes that I might go through like Alice managed in Through the Looking Glass. Alas, my head bumped the back of the closet, my fingers could not penetrate the glass.  This did not negate that such adventures were possible, only that I was not among the lucky ones to be so enchanted.” (75)

Great Idea!

In essence, this is how I read books.  I love getting sucked into another world; imagining the characters, the scenery, the action.  This is the only way to read books.  I even do it for nonfiction books.  I create a whole world surrounding me.

I only wish a teacher would have made one for me.  I never had anyone that creative.  Growing up I made my own time machines.  During the summer, I would drag a blanket out to the middle of the yard.  We had woods in the back with a small clearing in the middle.  I would set up a picnic blanket in the clearing and lose myself in a book.  I also loved the downtown library.  The children’s section used to have this house structure that kids to climb into and read.  Usually there wasn’t anyone else in the house, so it really was like one of my secret places.

To really foster a love of reading, kids need to feel the magic that can come from a book.  Some might need a time machine to spark their interests.  Others just need a patch of woods.  But the point is that we need to be creative with a our reading.  I applaud Ms. Codell’s “Time Machine.”  She has the right idea: get a kid interested and then push the reading.  They will follow.

I’m off to build my own Time Machine. Wish me luck!

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