Cecilia, a thirteen-year old girl, dives out the window and is impaled by a fence post, starting the rapid demise of her family. “The Virgin Suicide” by Jeffery Eugenides is the type of book that Iris Tanja loves to throw herself into because, “it’s written very well and makes you think.”

Tanja’s eyes bounced around the room, searching for the right adjectives to describe her passion for reading. Reading is not just a hobby for Tanja, it is an “escape to different worlds” allowing her to “live multiple lives because my life isn’t that exciting.” Some of the authors that allow her to venture into others lives are Jodi Picoult, John Green, Ellen Hopkins, and J.K. Rowling.

People read for the story, the escape, the character, and the language. Tanja reads for the story and escape but especially for character.

She said, “Reading books helps me connect with interesting cultures and different points of view.” It shows her “how to relate to others who think differently than me.”

Tanja is able to be less judgmental because she reads characters to try to get a better sense of the world.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “There is creative reading as well as creative writing.”

Creative reading for Tanja means living characters’ lives and appreciating their struggles.