A Good Escape

It is almost time for some summer reading!  We all know that reading is good for us, that it improves our vocabulary and thought processes.  We know that the summer break sets many students back since they are not reading and studying daily. And most of us try to read at least a couple of books that also take us into different periods of history or focus on particular news.  But a book that transports us to a magical place can also be life changing. 

For example, I remember reading (and re-reading and re-reading) a book called “The Secret of Santa Vittoria,” which was about an Italian village hiding its wine during World War II.  I can still picture myself as a girl in that village, walking up the rocky paths and through the alpine meadows to hidden caves.  I was immersed in that village, and it didn’t matter whether or not the author was accurate.  I created lifelong biographies in my mind for the different characters and had intricate adventures with them which had nothing to do with the book’s plot.  The world that the author had created with his novel provided me with an escape valve, a place to go when I was bored and heroes to look to when I felt threatened. 

I try to always recommend books that have some literary value.  But there is something to be said for a book like “Mighty Robot vs. the Uranium Unicorns from Uranus.”  It can lessen the intensity of our real world and provide us with an imaginary world in which to escape.