I still have memories of when I was very young. I remember my mom reading books to me before I was even in kindergarten. My grandmother would also read to me. A couple of my cousins who were older than me would even read to me. If I strongly remember something from that far back, it is likely because it had a very profound effect on my developing brain.
I have always found written words to be very interesting. I somehow knew those strange symbols on the pages of a book translated into words, and then the words became sentences, and then the sentences morphed into an entertaining story. This was like some sort of magic to me! I simply couldn’t wait until I learned to read and write for myself.
I remember one time my older cousin and her friend came over to visit. My cousin’s name was Missy, and her friend was named Dana. They were sort of babysitting me I guess, because I was several years younger than they were. Since they were older, they already knew how to read and write a little. I can remember them writing words on a piece of paper. I didn’t understand what the symbols meant, but I was fairly artistic, so I picked up a pencil and started copying the letters I saw on their paper. Dana was very surprised by this and said, oh wow, does he already know how to write? Missy said, no, he’s just drawing. This was true of course, but it shows how much letters and words enchanted me.
Books were also very interesting to me. As well as being artistic, I was also a very crafty person when I was young. I would make all kinds of things out of wood, cardboard, paper, etc. I remember one time I decided to make a book. It did a pretty good job of it as I remember. The cover was constructed of cardboard with duct cloth glued all around it. Basically, it looked like a canvas covered tome with quite a few blank pages inside it.
By the time I made this book, I already had some reading and writing education from school, but I didn’t quite use what I learned. I always had an affinity for symbols, so I created my own alphabet. The goal was to write a book that no one but me could read. If you found it, you would need my alphabet to read it. The book was basically a bestiary. It had lots of drawings of animals and mythical creatures that I hand drew, and I would write up a description of them using my secret alphabet. I think it would be a real treat to find this book now, but it was lost to the ages unfortunately.
This book project was one of many word-related things I did growing up. I spent a lot of time just contemplating the alphabet and language. I later created other alphabets and really started to think about the letters. I also started to gain some familiarity with the Greek alphabet and the Latin language. I was fascinated how Latin grammar was so different from English grammar. I sort of liked how Latin worked. It seemed purer and simpler me, compared to my mother tongue. I thought about the idea of creating the perfect alphabet and language. I made some progress on this, but eventually abandoned it to do other things.
Being a very curious kid, I also liked to read non-fiction. I remember one time I went with my grandmother to visit her sister. I saw that her sister had a shelf containing a set of World Book Encyclopedias. I remember sitting down on the floor and reading one. Encyclopedias really fascinated me! The idea of having the breadth of human knowledge right at my fingertips totally thrilled me! I had a voracious appetite for knowledge! When my grandmother got ready to leave, I wanted to stay. I didn’t want to leave the books behind. Then my grandmother said, do you want to take those home? They actually belong to your mom. I was so excited! I spent countless hours with them! I would jump from article to article learning everything that mankind had done.
This leads me back to the topic of writing. I love writing because I love reading. I am indebted to all those countless authors and writers who left behind their work for me to read. I feel like sooner or later, it’s your turn to add to the shelves of human knowledge and literature, so here I am, spilling my life out onto a page using secret magical symbols. Hope you enjoy! Happy decoding!
Possible discussion ideas.
- Do you have fond memories of reading and writing?
- Do you still remember encyclopedia sets?
- Do you like arts and crafts and making things?
- Ever experimented with alphabets and language?
- Did you have people read to you a lot?
- Do you like to read non-fiction also?
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Ken's Life 