Maria Pycior, Class II c (Poland)

 

I sit in the armchair in my living room

When I have plenty of time in the evening

Curtains undulate, light bulb sparkles

And the clock whispers : ,, slowly, slowly”

 

Bicycles ride, chariots rush

Horses madden, bird sing

This wonderful, magical world

Calls all the kid to be part of it

 

When you get there, look around

You will see fairytale dreams

And If you look at them with joy

They will come true immediately

 

This place is never short of space

It is full of opportunities

And born of imagination people

Will teach you righteousness

 

You never experience boredom there

An adventure always waits

On the paper you will not find hypocrisy

So the book is a great convenience

 

                                                                                             

Katarzyna Jaworska, Class II d (Poland)

 

          To travel you must have a specific purpose, and means of transport. The purpose of the journey to the world of books are worlds unrecognizedby us, and the means of transport is the ability to read and imagination, shaped through the years by family and school.

          When I was six years old, my grandfather told me to read an article from a newspaper devoted to politics. I do not remember what it exactlyconcerned. Composing black letters bored me terribly, especially due to the fact that I was not very good at it. I was alsonot interested in the article itself. I and my grandfather quarreled that if I already had to, I could read something else.However, he was adamant. Next time my parentshelped me.

I got a book about plantsfrom my grandfather, in which there was a lot of images, but also a bit of text. Pictures of beautiful flowers, grass and colorful leaves sweetenedmy readinglabours. I was reading better and better. I did notthink about the content, I did notunderstand many words, but I started tocompose letters smoothly, so that words were formed. The effect of this skill was reading on inscriptions on the local shop and other buildings during a walk. This way, I showed my mom that I could read. For some time my mother enjoyed it, but later she was annoyed that was walking with a child whoreads every label,including offensive graffiti on blocks.

I could go on the first "book travel" with newly acquired skills. First, I read books for young children, with lots of colorful illustrations. Pictures, in a strange way, were connected to the text and suddenly came to life. "Dawdle duckling", "Mr. Hilary", "Duck weirdo", "Cinderella", "The Swineherd", "Little Red Riding Hood ", "Alibaba and the forty thieves", "Puss in Boots" and many, many other characters. When I had time, I started to imagine the adventures of heroes and invent the rest of their history. Heroes of fairy tales also sometimesappeared in my dreams. Once I was chased by a terrible dragon, and the other time I stayed in company of the Seven Dwarfs, and I was Snow White.

In time, books had fewer illustrations and more content, which becamericher and richer in descriptions of nature, characters, events. I was disappointed with a tiny amount of coloured drawings, and I stopped readingfor a while. I only acquainted with obligatory books, which needed for school. I did not like them because their content wasordinary, and the plots were too complicated. However, when we discussed them during lessons, it turned out that you can learn a lot from them. I found out from " Pinocchio " that it is not worth to lie, from "Circle the world again " that you have to be brave, from " Mr. Blot " that you cannot hurt anyone, from "The Hobbit " that good always triumphs and evil is defeated.

            These things are just a few details of what I have learned. Perhaps more important is to be able to move, at least for a moment, by means of imagination to the world of books and relive the adventures together with the characters. To receive described reality in almost three-dimensional conditions. In one moment you can be among dinosaurs, and the other time together with medieval knights and princesses. I have been travelling in the vast world of books for a few years now. Where would I go on another trip? I still do not know.