You Are What You Read
Content
Literature for Children
[SABRINA KANG (TESL 2 SEM 2 2013)] 2013) ]
YOU ARE WHAT YOU READ ‘You are what you read’ is indeed a correct statement for each and every
human race in this world. Books are one of those things that commonly appear and become part of human’s life. For some, books are their greatest treasure
which can be their magic door that can bring them everywhere they want. While for the others, books are merely ornaments that are ought to be left dusted on the shelves to show other people that they are actually intellectual. My name is Sabrina Kang and I am going to enlighten you on how books influenced me.
During my childhood days, I am very lucky to have a wonderful mother who is a bookworm and loves to indulge herself in various kinds of book. To have someone who can share your interest is bliss, so she bought me books. A lot of them. That is when I started to get addicted to books. Fairy tales, fables and nursery rhymes are most common genre that filled my bookshelf during those days. I really love those stories, could never get enough of it until there are no more fairy tales for me as I have read each and every one of them. Later, my father bought me numerous stories which contain good moral values and stories about Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) and his friends. Once I entered secondary school, my mother tried to change my genre from fairy tales to more serious and realistic genre such as mystery. She was very eager and always recommended me to read Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Agatha Cristie’s mystery novels, Danielle Steel and John Grisham. Unfortunately, fantasy novels became my choice and my days were filled with Diana Wynne Jones’s
Chrestomanci series (pronounce as krest-oh-man-see), Harry Potter, Twilights and Harlequin’s novels. Every day is a magical day. Never one day passed 1
Literature for Children
[SABRINA KANG (TESL 2 SEM 2 2013)]
without me thinking that something magical will happen. Later I myself opted for mystery novels and chic lit as I could not find any interesting fantasy novels anymore. Today, my preference would be fantasy, chic lit, and mystery novels. Thriller, true life story or any stories that end up tragically such as Romeo and Juliet is totally not my cup of tea.
All those stories do affect my childhood life unconsciously. I would spend my time colouring and drawing as I was really amazed with all those beautiful and colourful pictures in the storybooks. I tried to draw fairy tales character such as princes and princesses which always end up being in the dustbin as I am very horrible in drawing… and perhaps colouring too. However, I become an imaginative person as when I got absorb in the plot, I am able to become part of the story. In fact, I am the main character! It is indeed very nice because some of events in the stories like a ball, living in castle, or riding on the flying broomsticks are things that can never be done in real life. In addition, reading makes me become a dreamer who dreams of a happy ending (though I know life is not a bed of roses), a dramatic person, optimistic and yearns for excitement that the world can offer me. Every time I finished reading a book, I feel like I just came back from a long and exciting journey.
Reading fairy tales really influence my mentality as a girl as I had this belief that I will live happily ever after when I marry my prince. I also feel that this world is a wonderful world as it is filled with kind-hearted people who will always help damsel in distress and truth will always win. I hardly broke any rules due to the lessons learnt from the moral story novels and fables. Lucky
2
Literature for Children
[SABRINA KANG (TESL 2 SEM 2 2013)]
for me, I live in a ‘kampung’ where I am safe to be and able play to my heart
content. Even though, I was told about the bad people that might kidnap me, I still could not help but think that, ‘they won’t do anything bad to a girl like me’ or ‘it is okay, a prince will come and save me’. Aside from that, believe it or
not, my interests and attitude keep changing according to the book that I have read. For example, when I was totally into fairy tales books, I learnt how to sew, so that I can sew wonderful gowns for my dolls. And when I read the mystery novels, I would see people in suspicious eyes and have the “I’m-asuper-genius-detective-and-I-know-that-you-are-lying”
look
on
my
face
whenever I listened to my friends’ conversation. Luckily, all those weirdness
would be over once I found a new book to read and no one would notice that except for me and my mother who totally understand the absurdity of her daughter.
I was said that I am a dramatic person and lives in a fairy tales world by my family and friends. I myself decided to live up to their expectations. While it is true that my head is filled with fantasy and fairy tales stuff, i would ensure that I am stepping on the ground, a very realistic ground. Yes, reading chic lit and mystery novels did open my eyes that life is not all about happy ending. In fact, I believe that the happy ending is actually the beginning of the real story. Up until today, I refuse to read any kind of story books that end up tragically such as Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl , Wuthering Height and The Phantom of Opera because, for me, life is already a sad story, so I should read a wonderful and happy stories to take away all those unhappiness. Reading also can influence my mood and emotion. I would feel very happy and satisfied after reading a good story while reading a sad one can make me cry a river.
3
Literature for Children
[SABRINA KANG (TESL 2 SEM 2 2013)]
Academically, reading gives me an upper hand when it comes to writing essays and English language. I knew quite a number of English vocabularies which is very helpful during the tests as I did not face difficulty of not understanding the texts given unlike some of my peers who did not read English books. Aside from that, I instinctively able to write correct sentences in term of grammar and sentence structure. Writing essays has been one of my delightful moments in exams as i was able to create my own stories based on my favourite books. I never had enough time to write my essays as there was so much to write about but so little time. Due to this I never failed to get an A for English subjects and make my mother smiles.
Finally, I am going to talk about some of the books that I have read. I have read a lot of fiction stories. However, not many of them leave a very big impression in me unlike Jean Webster’s Daddy Long Legs, Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer and Howl’s Moving Castle written by Diana Wynne Jones. I have
read at least three times for each book. Those books are like my wake-up call. They leaves a very deep and long lasting impression in me that I could not help but feel very contented after reading them. They are totally the books that I would recommend to my friends.
There, I’m done baring my soul. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as
I enjoy writing the essays. Thank you.
4
[SABRINA KANG (TESL 2 SEM 2 2013)] 2013) ]
YOU ARE WHAT YOU READ ‘You are what you read’ is indeed a correct statement for each and every
human race in this world. Books are one of those things that commonly appear and become part of human’s life. For some, books are their greatest treasure
which can be their magic door that can bring them everywhere they want. While for the others, books are merely ornaments that are ought to be left dusted on the shelves to show other people that they are actually intellectual. My name is Sabrina Kang and I am going to enlighten you on how books influenced me.
During my childhood days, I am very lucky to have a wonderful mother who is a bookworm and loves to indulge herself in various kinds of book. To have someone who can share your interest is bliss, so she bought me books. A lot of them. That is when I started to get addicted to books. Fairy tales, fables and nursery rhymes are most common genre that filled my bookshelf during those days. I really love those stories, could never get enough of it until there are no more fairy tales for me as I have read each and every one of them. Later, my father bought me numerous stories which contain good moral values and stories about Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) and his friends. Once I entered secondary school, my mother tried to change my genre from fairy tales to more serious and realistic genre such as mystery. She was very eager and always recommended me to read Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Agatha Cristie’s mystery novels, Danielle Steel and John Grisham. Unfortunately, fantasy novels became my choice and my days were filled with Diana Wynne Jones’s
Chrestomanci series (pronounce as krest-oh-man-see), Harry Potter, Twilights and Harlequin’s novels. Every day is a magical day. Never one day passed 1
Literature for Children
[SABRINA KANG (TESL 2 SEM 2 2013)]
without me thinking that something magical will happen. Later I myself opted for mystery novels and chic lit as I could not find any interesting fantasy novels anymore. Today, my preference would be fantasy, chic lit, and mystery novels. Thriller, true life story or any stories that end up tragically such as Romeo and Juliet is totally not my cup of tea.
All those stories do affect my childhood life unconsciously. I would spend my time colouring and drawing as I was really amazed with all those beautiful and colourful pictures in the storybooks. I tried to draw fairy tales character such as princes and princesses which always end up being in the dustbin as I am very horrible in drawing… and perhaps colouring too. However, I become an imaginative person as when I got absorb in the plot, I am able to become part of the story. In fact, I am the main character! It is indeed very nice because some of events in the stories like a ball, living in castle, or riding on the flying broomsticks are things that can never be done in real life. In addition, reading makes me become a dreamer who dreams of a happy ending (though I know life is not a bed of roses), a dramatic person, optimistic and yearns for excitement that the world can offer me. Every time I finished reading a book, I feel like I just came back from a long and exciting journey.
Reading fairy tales really influence my mentality as a girl as I had this belief that I will live happily ever after when I marry my prince. I also feel that this world is a wonderful world as it is filled with kind-hearted people who will always help damsel in distress and truth will always win. I hardly broke any rules due to the lessons learnt from the moral story novels and fables. Lucky
2
Literature for Children
[SABRINA KANG (TESL 2 SEM 2 2013)]
for me, I live in a ‘kampung’ where I am safe to be and able play to my heart
content. Even though, I was told about the bad people that might kidnap me, I still could not help but think that, ‘they won’t do anything bad to a girl like me’ or ‘it is okay, a prince will come and save me’. Aside from that, believe it or
not, my interests and attitude keep changing according to the book that I have read. For example, when I was totally into fairy tales books, I learnt how to sew, so that I can sew wonderful gowns for my dolls. And when I read the mystery novels, I would see people in suspicious eyes and have the “I’m-asuper-genius-detective-and-I-know-that-you-are-lying”
look
on
my
face
whenever I listened to my friends’ conversation. Luckily, all those weirdness
would be over once I found a new book to read and no one would notice that except for me and my mother who totally understand the absurdity of her daughter.
I was said that I am a dramatic person and lives in a fairy tales world by my family and friends. I myself decided to live up to their expectations. While it is true that my head is filled with fantasy and fairy tales stuff, i would ensure that I am stepping on the ground, a very realistic ground. Yes, reading chic lit and mystery novels did open my eyes that life is not all about happy ending. In fact, I believe that the happy ending is actually the beginning of the real story. Up until today, I refuse to read any kind of story books that end up tragically such as Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl , Wuthering Height and The Phantom of Opera because, for me, life is already a sad story, so I should read a wonderful and happy stories to take away all those unhappiness. Reading also can influence my mood and emotion. I would feel very happy and satisfied after reading a good story while reading a sad one can make me cry a river.
3
Literature for Children
[SABRINA KANG (TESL 2 SEM 2 2013)]
Academically, reading gives me an upper hand when it comes to writing essays and English language. I knew quite a number of English vocabularies which is very helpful during the tests as I did not face difficulty of not understanding the texts given unlike some of my peers who did not read English books. Aside from that, I instinctively able to write correct sentences in term of grammar and sentence structure. Writing essays has been one of my delightful moments in exams as i was able to create my own stories based on my favourite books. I never had enough time to write my essays as there was so much to write about but so little time. Due to this I never failed to get an A for English subjects and make my mother smiles.
Finally, I am going to talk about some of the books that I have read. I have read a lot of fiction stories. However, not many of them leave a very big impression in me unlike Jean Webster’s Daddy Long Legs, Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer and Howl’s Moving Castle written by Diana Wynne Jones. I have
read at least three times for each book. Those books are like my wake-up call. They leaves a very deep and long lasting impression in me that I could not help but feel very contented after reading them. They are totally the books that I would recommend to my friends.
There, I’m done baring my soul. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as
I enjoy writing the essays. Thank you.
4
