mulberry road: I was about 11 years old when reading finally...

14:49 26th Jan 2012

Notes: 1

I was about 11 years old when reading finally ‘clicked’ for me. My Latin teacher (that’s right, Latin - I’m THAT old) gave me a copy of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ - an oblong slab of dead tree 1065 pages long. I felt I had to give it a go, it being given to me by a teacher and all - so I started into it… and within a few pages something happened: I began to see what I was reading. As I turned the pages the view just kept getting wider and wider. These days cinema screens are bigger and better than ever, but the truth is the screen inside your head is a million miles wide - and the hi-def is to die for.

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Graeme Base is an award-winning writer and illustrator and a national ambassador for Australia’s National Year of Reading 2012.

I do like the bit about the screen inside your head.