BELLAIRE • MEMORIAL • RIVER OAKS • TANGLEWOOD • WEST UNIVERSITY

An open book

By Christopher Zhou, age 11 | November 1, 2014

Click the Buzz Me button to receive email notifications when this writer publishes a new article or a new article in this column is published.

Christopher Zhou, a sixth grader at Pin Oak Middle School, loves diving into other worlds through books.

I think I have an uncommon passion. Most kids my age like to play sports or video games, but I don’t. I like to read. Okay, maybe I play video games sometimes, but I don’t like it as much as diving into the world of a well-written story.

It wasn’t always like this. I used to play a lot of video games, but that changed. In first grade, when I started the Accelerated Reader program, I read my first book. It was better than any video game I had ever played.

When you open a good book, all of life’s problems disappear. You’re not really yourself any more. You’re Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit, or Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games, or someone else. After I read my first book, I quickly became one of the top readers in my school. Here I am now, still going strong. I sometimes have trouble finding a book worth reading these days, but I always manage to find a good book in the end.

Reading is like stepping through a portal. For reluctant readers, something like Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney or The Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne might be good. Both are relatively easy books and can draw any reader in easily. If you just want an exciting series to start, try Percy Jackson and the Olympians or The Kane Chronicles, both by Rick Riordan. Maybe you’ve seen it all, and you just want to settle down with an old classic. If so, then Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer is for you.

Books help you study, or you can just read if you’re bored and have nothing to do. You can start book clubs and invite some of your friends. Also, if you want to be an author, you’d better start reading now. You probably won’t be able to write a good book if you haven’t even read one. Keep in mind that even though reading might only seem like a way to pass the time, it can also be an important skill in the future.

Want to be a Buzz Kid? Email approximately 350 words, a high-resolution photo and caption to [email protected]. Or mail it to The Buzz Magazines, 5001 Bissonnet, Suite 100, Bellaire, TX 77401.