Reading has become somewhat of a lost art. Libraries are ghost towns without young minds, and the rise of digital media overshadows the beauty of words on paper. Society has tended to follow this trend of depending on other resource centers for entertainment – like social media and video games – when in reality the true entertainment has been sitting on a bookshelf on your desk collecting dust.
This shift in attention has seriously impacted the way that students go about their day, especially after a week full of schoolwork, volunteering, sports and stress; but reading a book can help significantly reduce that worry.
Furthermore, the consensus of English teachers at Masuk has reflected a similar idea:
“It’s a very freeing experience for me,” said Ellie Fried, a second-year English teacher at Masuk.
“…sometimes family can get crazy, but when you’re in a book, you can disappear and all that can go away,” said Sheila Casinelli, the assistant superintendent of Monroe Public Schools. The inevitable aspect of reading is the freedom it can provide a person.
The reason why people read isn’t just to relieve stress, it’s to understand the world around them as well.
“There is a sort of human unity that if you read, you can find something to connect to, and it just allows you to feel a sense of visibility and belonging that, like, you’re not alone in what you’re dealing with,” said Stephen Casinelli. If you dive into a realm of possibility, which is reading in its fullest form, you are destined to find an aspect of the book that you can relate to. Additionally, when a person reads, they involuntarily gain knowledge. People just tend to read for pleasure, but it’s not as if they don’t gain anything from it.
“…the more you read, the more you’re exposed to proper grammar, the more you’re exposed to different vocabulary terms…It makes you a strong writer. I wholeheartedly believe reading and writing are linked,” says Andrea De Lotto. “[Students who read] tend to do better on standardized tests than students who don’t read.”
If books are so meaningful to society though, how does one know which book to pick? Here are some of the books that Masuk English teachers couldn’t wait to speak about:
The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig is a 400-page novel following a young group of boys and their mysterious experience with a staircase in the middle of the woods after one of their friends goes up and never comes down.
“…it flashes back between that path of them in the woods, going up a staircase, to the present, where they all get summoned into the woods again, and then there’s another staircase in the woods there,” said Mary Kozan. “It’s so good.”
The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini “…are extremely traumatic. And yet, for some reason, the most uplifting and beautiful human experience novels that you could ever read.” said Casinelli. The novels take place in Afghanistan, following the stories of characters who navigate a war-torn world.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a known classic across Masuk. Not just because it is part of the curriculum, but because it transforms students’ minds.
“It allows you, as a human being, to recognize why you might be behaving in a certain way, or why you might have certain types of reactions to things,” said Casinelli.
“…I think that something happens in my class after we read that book, where I think that the room just becomes much more human and inviting.” Classics are classics for a reason–they impact people in a way that no other book has ever done.
“So I had a student who literally came back to me at the end of the school year and did say to me that that book…helped them understand other people tend to be more empathetic toward other people,” says Casinelli.
All The Missing Girls by Megan Miranda is a 380-page thriller novel that is guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat.
“That one was insane. Threw me for a loop, could not get over it. But it’s spooky fall vibes, which I love,” said Fried. The fall time is the perfect time to get into bed, light a candle and get lost in Miranda’s mysterious and terrifying writing.
Reading is knowledge right in front of your eyes, knowledge that cannot be learned anywhere else than the own corners of your mind. Nurturing this gift can lead to success in school, but also success in society. In a world where people value freedom and truth, reading is the key to unlocking all possibilities!
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