My Book and Heart

I must admit, after spending two hours of my life to get to and watch the film, I am at a loss as to what I actually gained. I didn't learn much about primers that I didn't already know or could have guessed (that they're didactic tools for children, which as a genre are sort of lost.)
My burning question remained: the film was appropriately cute and well-narrated, but so what?

So I peeked at my classmates' blogs to figure out if I should recant my previous paragraph: Gabryelle says that there is a certain way in which as children learn to read they simultaneously lose their innocence.
Claire agrees, as there is also an element of danger in certain tales and limericks. She also said that there's a certain fascination that all book lovers have with old books and that's magical.
And Rosanna says that once a book is read, that it's a part of the reader forever; Reading also instructs our world.

I think that I have trouble with the idea that through the process of learning to read that children lose their innocence. I would argue that the excitement and hunger to learn that books inspired in me prolonged my innocence far beyond when I was 5 or 6 and still learning to read. I voraciously sought out many books to immerse myself in and as a result, I cultivated many naive and imaginary ways of thinking about my own place in the world. I still thought that once I was in high school that I could have some adventures similar to those of the heroines of Sweet Valley High. I thought that I could become an Animorph if perchance I could meet an alien some day. I fancied that I too could become Indiana Jones or Lara Croft, which is why I chose Anthropology as my initial major. I still dream that one day I can use my college degree to do something world-changing, beyond becoming a teacher at Bozeman High (which is my fear as I haven't made any definite plans post-graduation).

I do agree that old books are magical and command a certain reverence and respect and also that once a book is read that it becomes a part of me. For me, books and reading are the closest thing to a religion that I have. Tearing pages out of books (shame on that one woman in my Brit Lit I class who would attempt to lighten her load by tearing out the sections of her book as we went along), using pen to notate textbooks or book burning all incite me to a religious violence and fervor.