Advanced Essay#2:

I opened the book. Then I slowly turn through the few blank pages and title pages, until I see the words ‘Chapter One’. I look at how tightly packed each row is with all the words, spaces, commas, and periods. I think to myself, I can do it this time, I can start to read this book. I won’t give up. I begin reading the first sentence, trying to concentrate on the words, the phrases, the meaning, the thought. I read it over and over again. I close the book. I open it again this time trying to read the page. I finish and remember… nothing I read. I read again. Now most of the rows start to mash together, words start to dance on the page. I remind myself: This is why I’ve never read a book before. I search up the audio book and start to listen. These moments that just keep repeating.  

The first book I read without using audio recordings is ‘Ender’s Shadow’ by Orson Scott Card, which is my favorite book. The reason this book is my favorite is it makes me feel like I had a chance to make my life better, just like the main character did. It made me realize just how small Earth is, and just how much time we waste wondering what could have happened if somebodies life was yours and wanting what others have. Like Michael Grothaus  wrote in ‘How Changing Your Reading Habits Can Transform Your Health’, where he said “But it wasn’t my new favorite book just because it was so compelling. It was my new favorite because it changed something in me.” What this book changed was that it made me see that there is a way to read, no matter how long it is, and if I read these books I will learn about life before I live it.

Having dyslexia can be hard at times, and a dyslexic brain works differently from any other. The time goes fast, rushes, but when I read it becomes all odd and starts going even faster and then a lot slower. My brain functions weird and reading is the key to that. When unlocked my brain starts to spin, to repeat and worst of all to go completely blank. Over the years I got some new locks and made it harder for that to happen, but it still breaks through sometimes, it finds a hole. That tiny hole appears when I get tired and the chains are looser. It takes me a long time to do anything involving reading or writing. It takes me a lot to read a simple book or write a short essay. Sometimes there is simply not enough hours in a day for my brain, yet I am my brain. I try to read faster, I try to subtract the hours my brain needs. But my brain and me are the same, but not even close to the same. People are too limited in thinking about literature and the way people could be literate. Just because I listen to audio books instead of reading does not make me illiterate.