When I was fourteen, my mother gave me Judy Blume’s book, Forever. For those of you who have not read it, Forever is about a teen girl’s experience with first love and her ‘first time.’ My mother handed it to me at the beginning of summer, just before I was about to begin high school, with the comment, “We’ll talk about it when you’ve finished reading.”
Needless to say, to have my mother’s permission to read what many of my friends were passing around in brown paper bags and giggling over was extremely exciting. I read the entire book in only one day AND in broad daylight. No sooner had I closed the book, then my mother was there asking the question, “So what did you learn?”
My response was quick and simple. “I learned if you really love someone, it’s okay to have sex.”
“No,” my mother said, “You learned that you should wait until after marriage!”
“No,” I insisted, “That’s not what I learned at all.” The fight that ensued that afternoon was legend.
In hindsight, I believe the lesson I actually learned that day had very little to do with premarital sex. What I learned is this—the message we take from the books we read are as unique and individual as the people who read them. Reading is extremely personal; therefore the ideas and feelings evoked will vary from one reader to the next.
Let’s face it. To some people, Scarlet O’Hara was a strong, independent woman. To others, she was a selfish, spoiled brat.
Literature does not exist to teach all of us exactly the same thing. It exists to make us think, to help up grow, and to encourage us to continue to learn. I’m an avid reader and in my lifetime, I’ve read slews of books that have changed me, even if only in some miniscule way, and made me a better, more thoughtful person.
The Kite Runner taught me it is never too late to correct a wrong. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter proved the old adage no good ever comes from a lie. The Mermaid Chair made me want to go out and find a hunky monk (isn’t that the lesson you learned?) And, oh, about a thousand other books have touched my heart and mind and taught me lessons that have enhanced and changed my life.
So I’ll ask you the question—what did you learn from the last book you read?
