I have reason to believe that the Babylon Bee may have been tracking my early childhood delinquent reading habits. In an article last week titled “Sinful, Rebellious Homeschooler Stays Up Past 9:30 To Read ‘Chronicles Of Narnia’,” they nearly perfectly captured my earliest reading memories. As a child, when I couldn’t sleep, I’d turn on my fish tank light, grab a copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (the exact copy in the photo above), and clandestinely read the first book of the Narnia series. I wasn’t homeschooled, but everything else in this article is spot on.
Those were magical days that instilled a deep love of reading into my life. That love was snuffed out during middle school and high school when reading became a chore. I recaptured that magic in college. I’m pretty sure that part of my desire for reading now is simply an attempt to recapture that early joy of reading under a fish tank light.
I’m so thankful my parents bought the Narniad (The Chronicles of Narnia) for me and placed it in my bedroom. If you have kids, place books where they play and sleep. And maybe even leave some lights where they can explore those books on the nights they can’t sleep. It just might be the spark to lifelong reading.
Sounds just like our boys, except they had no fish tank light. They used either a small flashlight or a nightlight on an extension cord, so I've been told.
That’s the right age to read, after 18, it’s impossible.