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When I was about three years old, I encountered “my first best friend” from listening to my father read Winnie the Pooh classics. I loved the adventures he and his friends went on, and often imagined myself in their place. This was what first captivated me to literature: how words could paint such a vivid story in one’s mind.


As I grew older and continued to read, I learned something else that was magnificent from literature: the capability of the words to not only paint a picture, but to touch the heart. The most recent books I have enjoyed reading include books by Mitch Albom, such as Tuesdays with Morrie, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and For One More Day. What intrigues me about his books is their simplicity. He presents books as if he is speaking to you from his heart.


I believe all literature can have that effect on a reader. It can provoke emotions and awaken one’s soul. The words of another can sometimes be the words a reader was looking for in his or her own life. However, this mentality can be negative on a reader. Sometimes the longing to provoke one’s own emotions causes limitation in the variety of their reading. I am guilty of this. When reading for pleasure, I want a book I know will interest me. So I look for stories that are appealing—I judge a book by its cover. Why should literature be treated any differently from how we treat one another? Of course we like to surround ourselves with people who have the same interest as we do, but that does not mean we ignore the people who are different than us. The same should go for literature. Maybe if we first search for the author’s meaning, we will open our minds to ideas that we never would have explored.


Literature is both the expression and the exploration of one’s heart and mind.