The student’s eyes trace down the long line of wooden shelves. As they walk into the narrow hallway surrounded by lists of titles and authors, their fingers cautiously glide down each binding, skimming until they reach their destination. Slipping the book out if its fitted space, the student examines the cover detail and is off to the checkout desk carrying their next read.
Whether for expanding their knowledge or for the mere fun of reading, students all over South enjoy reading outside of school.
Junior Amra Otgonbaatar got involved reading as a tool initially to better understand the country he had moved to. Otgonbaatar came to America roughly twelve years ago from Mongolia.
“When I came to America, I didn’t really know English, so I would read to learn English better,” Otgonbaatar said. “I think reading helps you comprehend more, it helped me a lot.”
According to Otgonbattar, his favorite book is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second book of the Harry Potter series. He is also currently getting tied into the Hunger Games series. Otgonbattar is not the only one taking an interest in reading outside of school.
According to junior Claudia Vanciu, an everyday reader, she lives in a household where reading is welcomed, but has picked up on it from one of her five younger siblings.
“My younger sister is the one who got us all into reading,” Vanciu said. “She’s thirteen and she’s finished more books than I have in my lifetime […] She’s really into it, so she kind of got all of us into it.”
Although not all South students have the desire to dash to the nearest library, junior Mirna Bazi explains how reading can sometimes be better than nothing.
“It’s my last resort, if I have absolutely nothing else to do, or if I’m completely bored out of my mind,” Bazi said. “I’d rather read a book than watch TV sometimes, because at least you pick up vocabulary words that you can use in everyday life, and it’s a lot more educational than Dancing with the Stars.”
Although Bazi does find enjoyment in some of her favorite books, she explains how she finds it difficult to put reading at the top of her to-do list.
“As you get older, there’s a lot of other things coming into your life, whether its going out with friends, or a boyfriend, and school being very time consuming, especially if you play sports, you don’t really have time to pick up a book, or go to a library,” Bazi said. “It is kind of an inconvenience.”
On the other hand, Vanciu has found benefits to reading more often.
“It expands your vocabulary,” Claudia said. “If you want to sound smart, then read books, because you learn how to communicate from reading how other people communicate”.
