Saturday, November 19, 2016

How to Balance School Reads with Fun Reads

One of the hardest parts of high school and middle school for me was trying to fit in reading books I wanted to read while reading the not-so-inspiring choices made by my teachers for required reading.

I'll be honest, there were a few books I ended up loving (Tuesdays with Morrie, for example, was fantastic), but I basically disliked everything else I had to read. The worst part was that, after reading the required books, I ended up uninspired to read anything else.

Here is a small list of tips and tricks I learned to keep myself reading for fun! :)

1. Always carry a book with you.
I used to only carry the books I had to read for class and it made me miserable. Every time I saw that book, I wanted to read it less and read anything else even less than that. Instead, carry a book that looks interesting so you see it and want to dive in.

2. Try a series
I find that, once I'm hooked on a series, I can't not finish it. Often times, I'll carry around the first book to a series that has an interesting cover. Before I know it, I've been reading this series for two months and never felt bogged down even while reading my required materials in between.

3. Read a book based off of a movie you enjoyed
A great way to get into reading, especially if reading for school has you too stressed to even look at written words, is to read something you've already seen the movie of. I wouldn't say every book to movie is good but most of the ones I've read were made into movies for good reasons: the books have a faster pace and you've finished reading it before you even realized how much you've read.

My last recommendation is definitely only for certain people but I would recommend picking up a manga series (or even comics!). They're much easier to read, as they consist of mostly images, and, because of that, you can read them quickly. If you need a break from Huckleberry Finn or Oliver Twist, grab the first volume of a manga series and read that to break up those longer (and dryly written, at least to me) books. It'll keep you energized to read more for school while keeping your spirits up with a great manga series.


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