I love stories. Especially stories about fantasy, science, or a combination of both. Ever since I was in elementary school, I always found myself reading books. Why? It’s probably the fact that whenever I read a new book, I felt that I was able to immerse myself in a different world. There could be different types of dragons with elemental magic or giant mechanical suits of armor. The protagonist could find themself as an elf embarking on a new journey or a scientist who just discovered time travel and decides to use it. Whatever the story was about, I was always interested in reading it.

I believe the first series of books I ever read was about Dinotopia. It was a story about how a father and his son were stranded on an island where both humans and dinosaurs coexisted in harmony. Reading the series always brought me excitement, because I always wished that I could have experienced the sensation of discovering a new world just like them. After I finished the series, I was desperately looking for a different series that had the same type of world. My search led me to Harry Potter. A young wizard who was fated to fight an evil sorcerer from the moment he was born. I felt like I was witnessing his entire journey myself and how he grew to be brave and strong. When I finished this series, I then went on to discover Percy Jackson, a demigod whose ability was to control water. He had a lot of different quests in life that he learned to grow from, the same way I felt as I had new experiences in life too.

I believe my friend first recommended that series to me, and every book I read in the series gave me that same feeling of excitement. The new thoughts and emotions that I felt were always something I cherished. Sometimes I would try to find out what the antagonist was planning or whether the protagonist would finally learn information that only the reader knew. At other times, I would imagine myself walking alongside the protagonist fighting the same monsters as they did. Every book I read always let me find something new and let me keep that experience for myself. I realized that as many books as I read, I would always love to read more. It wasn’t the genre that felt special to me. It was the feeling of being a part of a world that was new and different from mine.