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Oliver Shim English 106 Brittany Biesiada 9/3/2013 The Adventures of Oliver Shim As a child, I was encouraged to read like many young children are but I was rebellious. I grew up in a family with a mom and dad. My dad worked as a lawyer and was very strict. My dad would always try to tell us to read books. I would ask him to go do something because I was bored, but he would always tell me to read a book. Whether it would be a classic or some other boring book with an old faded cover, I was just too young to understand everything that was going on in the books he wanted me to read. My mother worked as a social worker at a hospital. She was calm and had a more laidback attitude. As a child, my grandmother greatly influenced my mother to read. My mother has been a key sponsor in my life. I also had a younger brother named Justin and a younger brother named Camille. My brother was very smart from a young age because he was an avid reader. He had black puffy hair, and his face was like a bright red tomato. He would always play games with me, and we were good buddies. My sister had black hair that was fairly short. She was always looking for fun, whether that would be drawing on the walls with pencils or playing with rubber duckies in the toilet. Her mind would run freely with ideas. She was always energetic and in the mood to play. As I aged, my brothers and sisters would always enjoy reading novels. They would dive into anything they could get their hands on. Some books would be the Hardy Brothers, The Fudge Book Series, and The Magic Tree House Series. I, on the other hand, lost interest in

Shim, Fall 2013

novels, turning towards the computer as my source of entertainment. It started to get out of hand when I would stare blankly at a screen, playing past three o clock in the morning. Everyday my mother would take me to the Ela Public Library. The library was built out of white stone blocks and had bright blue windows. My mother took us there every Saturday religiously. It was a tradition. Every Saturday was library day. There were many sections to the library. They had a children section, teen section, adult section, many computer labs, and a caf. We would usually head off to the childrens section where there were puppets, blocks, and toys. Something amazing was happening everyday in the childrens section, but I refused to take part in it. My favorite part about the childrens section was the backroom, which was referred to as the prize room. This is the room we would pick up prizes for participating in reading contests. The room glistened with shiny objects. The room was layered with buckets upon buckets of goodies. It was a little childs heaven. It was very fun because we would get little trinkets or coupons to local restaurants to eat at. I would always enjoy the prizes, but I wouldnt enjoy reading. I remember that I always said, Mother, can you bring us to Panera? She always replied, Of course, you need to finish your reading hours first. One day I remember sitting in the library and feeling bored. I slouched in a wooden table and put my head on the cold, hard desk. I remember saying to my mom, Mom, I want to get out of here. It is so boring. Can I go on the computer? My mother replied, No, we came here to read books, and you should go pick out an interesting book to read

Shim, Fall 2013

But mom, there are no interesting books that I can find. Fine, I will go get the librarian then. My mother, who was looking around, spotted a lab aid who was my 6th grade teacher. His name was Mr. Love. He was fairly tall with brown hair. He had a nice smile and would sometimes grow his beard out. He recommended a book to me that seemed interesting at the time. I rubbed my hand over the front cover. It said The Invention of Hugo Cabret in big red letters. The cover was well illustrated with many shades of blue, gold, and red. I quickly flipped through the pages of the book, only to be astounded by finding pictures on certain pages. I remember saying, Wow, there are pictures. This should be an easy read. Good replied my mother. We arent leaving until you finish that whole book. The gray and white pictures seemed to invite me into the story and into the life of Hugo Cabrets adventure. I quickly looked at the number of pages, which was around 526 pages and peered down at my black stainless watch. I decided to dive straight in. As I read about Hugo Cabret and his adventure, the time seemed to melt away. I peered down at my watch again and a couple hours had gone by. I was amazed. Hugo Cabret continued to entertain me. I got caught up in the illustrations of the author. The mechanical figures on the pages, and the people who seemed so real kept me going. Mr. Love occasionally popped by to see if I was doing okay. He said, Hey what do you think about the book? I responded, Wow, I never thought that so much adventure could be contained in one book. Mr. Love you have transformed my view of books forever. I feel that books arent just for learning, but they can be fun too.

Shim, Fall 2013

Yep, Im glad you enjoy it. Thats why Im here. As I continued reading, my emotions started to act up towards the end of the book for this boy name Hugo Cabret. He was a young child that seemed to be alone. He wore dirty clothes. He was fairly small, but he was bright. His hair was flat and groomed. He always stole because he did not seem to have any money. I remember that he tried to steal from a neat toy shop, and the shop owner ends up being his relative. He had his own small, personal workshop that was hidden away in a train station. He seemed to be always working on things. He finally builds a beautiful automaton at the end that helps him discover his past. This part sticks out to me because of the beautiful illustrations. The delicate shapes of the little, robot seemed to make it come to life. The wooden texture and human like qualities seemed to give hope to Hugo Cabret. It seemed to make him feel less alone and more sane. It writes the name of his relative beautifully. He finally discovers that he has a place in society. I felt like I had finally found a book that I enjoyed and was willing to read. I felt like Hugo Cabret, except that I had found my place among books. I peered down at my watch and found out that several hours and gone by. I was amazed because I had finished the whole book. I quickly flipped through the book again, staring in amazement of all the pages. It seemed that my initial predictions about books were false. It was not because I did not like books, I just did not read books that did not interest me. Throughout school, I was forced to read books out of learning and comprehension. Those books deterred me from reading for fun, and I felt books all together were boring. I felt that books were a waste of time.

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This event changed the way I thought about books. I no longer thought about books as time wasters or unimportant resources. Books took you on adventures that you could not go in real life. They improved your reading, writing, and vocabulary skills. They connected you to other peoples ideas and experiences. As I left the library, I thanked Mr. Love and walked happily away with my parents. I told my mom that books were not boring. She responded with, You see books can be interesting. Yea, I said in agreement. I guess I just needed to give them a chance. I remember staring at the library as we drove away on the bright afternoon. After this incident, I continued to read books that interested me. I read books about murders and mysteries. I read the Sherlock Holmes Series. These books kept me turning and turning. We would take long road trips to places across the states. I would read in the back seat even with headaches from motion sickness. Three happy children sitting side by side reading books was the sight my parents would describe. I learned that books can be entertaining, as long as you are willing and find something you are interested in. Nowadays, I am a college freshman at Purdue University. Even though I do not read as many interesting books as I did in my childhood days because I am always being bombarded with textbooks from my classes, I still will enjoy an occasionally read in my free time. I have grown more mature through reading certain books. I feel that reading has had a bigger impact on my life nowadays than when I was a child. Sometimes I regret not spending all that free time as a child reading books. One part of my childhood continues to live out inside of me. That is the curiosity and desire for adventure that is contained in books. The important thing is that I have the desire to read books on my own now. Books are for everybody; all you need to do is try.

Shim, Fall 2013

Shim, Fall 2013