Library of Vic

     I have always loved reading literature since I was a little girl. My father instilled the love for books in us kids by reading chapters of The Hobbit, Peter and the Star Catchers, and The Chronicles of Narnia every night before bed. Once I was able to read on my own, I quickly became sucked into the world of The Magic Tree House and Junie B. Jones. You see, adventure and independence were always at the forefront of my personality. In middle school I struggled with mental health and literature then became a world I could either escape from my problems or read a text that made me go “ah…that explains how I feel, I am not alone.” You may chuckle (or cringe) to know those moments came from books like Twilight, The Host, Burn, Metamorphosis, and The Vampire Academy. Thank the literary gods for high school where my taste for literature, especially the classics, really matured. The first piece to really suck me in was The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, I remember so distinctly feeling this book with all my senses. I could feel the hot air and sand on my skin, I could smell the dry earth, and I could feel the heavy grief in my soul. Soon after I fell in love with works by Fitzgerald, Salinger, and Bronte. Now that I am in my thirties, I do consider myself to be a ‘mood reader.’ When I crave the classics I read Wilde, Plath, Woolf, Gilman, Camus, Hemingway, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Austen. I settle in for thought provoking or educational books containing psychology, history, and philosophy. I gravitate towards literature that makes me ponder life and question my own beliefs. And then at times I need a break from the real world, so ACOTAR has been my choice lately.

     In my endless pursuit to tackle my TBR shelf, I have found a calling to teach English language and literature. I want to be the guide students need to fully appreciate and understand the written word. I want to help students expand their world view, question everything they know, and invoke empathy for lives they had not understood before.

     Literature ebbs, flows, and grows with you. It challenges and molds you. You become a sum of all you have read at every stage of your life. Have you ever noticed how a particular book finds you when you need it most? That is the magic of the written word. That “ah” moment is what I want each and every one of my students to get to experience, because it truly is a unique experience.