(Sample post: the people and events in this story are made up for display purposes.)
I’ve always called myself “not a reader.” I can scroll short videos for an hour straight, but hand me a book and I zone out by page two. This term SOWA Reads ran a 30-day challenge: read for 20 minutes a day, anything you like. Twenty minutes, I thought. Fine. I’ll try.
Week one, I got sneaky and only read comics. I was sure I’d get called out, but the older students running it just said, “Comics totally count!” Huge relief. It was also the first time reading felt like something that didn’t have to be serious.
Week two, a friend lent me Wonder. It’s about a boy with a facial difference starting school for the first time. I planned to read for 20 minutes and looked up an hour and a half later. When kids left him out, I was furious. When his friend finally stood up for him, I nearly cried under my blanket.
Not every week went well. During exams in week three I forgot to read three days in a row, and there were three empty boxes on my tracker. I almost quit, but someone in the group chat said, “If you break the streak, just keep going. No need to restart.” So on day four I opened the book again. I only managed ten minutes, but I still got to tick the box.
On day 30 I added it up: five comics, two novels and half a book about space. Maybe that doesn’t sound like much, but for me it was the most I’d ever read in a month. The weird part? I spent less time scrolling before bed, and I had way more stuff I wanted to talk about with my friends.
The challenge is over, but I still read a little every day. My advice: don’t start with the books you think you “should” read. Start with the ones you actually want to. Comics, ten minutes, whatever. Opening the first page is already half the win.