My parents used to nickname me Matilda as I was always reading. Pretty much anywhere we went anywhere I would turn to my Mum and ask for my book so I could bury my nose in that and ignore what ever was going on around me (yeah I was a joy to have at events). When I was at school and had no friends I would go to the library and read and pretend I wasn't alone.
Matilda taught me two very important lessons. 1) Books are basically the best thing in the world and 2) even if you're small you should still stand up for what's right (even if you're standing up to someone bigger and scarier than you). If you asked me today what book had influenced me most, Matilda would probably be my answer. Most importantly, it sparked my love of reading.
In Year 3 (so age about 7 as I was one of the youngest) my teacher used to read us Roald Dahl books like Danny Champion of the World and BOY. My brother loved Roald Dahl, and so I had already read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and a few others. I used to go home and read the rest of the book and then feel pretty smug as the rest of my class asked me what happened in the end.
I never really stopped reading from then on, Enid Blyton and Jacqueline Wilson were my main authors but I read pretty much any book I could get my hands on, whether this was from the library or from Waterstones. My reading helped me flourish at English, as I was always keen to read our set book (the whole reading a chapter in class thing meaning we took about three months to finish a book drove me crazy) and discuss it. The best teacher I ever had was Mr R in Year 5 who encouraged me to read and pushed me further, as he knew I was capable of handling stuff above my age range. When the year 8's were reading Mice and Men I was keen to read it and he lent me a school copy saying "don't tell anyone as I'm pretty sure I'm not meant to do this". Thank god for good teachers. This all led to me scoring the highest marks in the end of year English exams in both year 5 and year 6, and cemented to me that English was my favourite subject.
English in Secondary school was a dream. I had some amazing teachers and I was being encouraged to read around the subject and think independantly. I achieved A and A* in English at GCSE and went on to study it at A Level which was hundred percent my favourite class ever. The material was so amazing and being able to pick my own coursework title and develop it was just a dream come true. In Year 13 I was applying to Uni and there was only one course that I wanted to do- English Literature.
Then on the day of my 18th birthday I recieved the news that I would be going to Warwick to study English Literature. Throughout my whole life I've struggled to answer the question "what do you do in your spare time?" as the answer is mostly reading. Now I finally felt how I chose to spend my time was valid and I'm going off to study a degree in what I've been passionate about since I was five or six. Pretty cool stuff.
So what's the point of this post? I guess all I'm trying to say is a) Matilda is freaking awesome and B) if you love the arts (whether that be literature or music or art) don't let people scare you into thinking you can't continue those to uni, that you have to choose a "real subject". Reading has been my passion and my love since I was tiny and age 18 I still love it. And any parents reading this- encourage your kids to read. It is 100% the best thing my parents ever did, and I will never be able to thank them enough for allowing me to be an anti-social kid with her nose in a book as I couldn't be happier right now.
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