Why take the time to read?

 When I was young, I found many of the chapter books I read to be boring and long particularly at the start of the story when things were being explained. As I got older, school required you read more and more chapter books and it became harder for me to focus on reading the books we were given. Shortly before the Winn-Dixie movie came out, my Mom bought me the book for me. I decided to attempt reading it since the picture of the dog on the cover caught my attention and I was pulled into the book from the first page. I started in the middle of a scene which made want to know what would happen next. This book got me more into reading and helped me realize that reading can be a fun activity if you take the time to find the right book and read at your own pace. 
 
 I now enjoy reading because I have learned that it helps take your mind off of the burdens and pressures of life. When reading you get to use imagination and creativity in thinking up how the characters might look and the setting in which different scenes take place. Another exciting element of reading is when the story reaches a point where it grows close to the climax and the story grows tense and you desperately want to know what will happen next. I especially enjoy reading when I get to these parts in a book because it fires up your imagination and is exciting. For these many reasons I like to read.
  
 Often people refuse to read simply because either they find it boring to read words, misunderstand the story, feel they don't have the time, or they have had bad reading experiences. I feel like this at times, but when I really get into a good book such as Because of Winn-Dixie, reading can be a very thrilling and at the same time relaxing experience.