National Book Month can lead to many benefits

Freshman Hailey Miller is currently reading Six of Crows. She is one of the many teenagers that is reading during National Book Month. National Book Month began in 2003 by the National Book Foundation. It was created to honor authors and influence people to read more.

Miller doesn’t read multiple books at once because “I get the plot mixed up.”

Reading has many benefits. Cognitive development, vocabulary expansion, improved concentration, empathy, emotional intelligence, stress reduction and lifelong learning. Cognitive development is the growth and change of a person’s mental processes. When a person reads, the neural passageways are responsible for processing the reading. This helps a person remember what happened in the book and process learning a new word. 

Miller’s favorite fictional character, she said, is “Follo Tunito from Gachiakuta, a manga.”

Language and vocabulary expansion is when a person is learning more words, causing their vocabulary to increase. In books, there are several thousand words, depending on the book. People don’t always know the word when they are reading the book. People have to sound out the word to figure out how to say it, and use context clues to figure out the meaning of the word. Improved focus and concentration occur when a person is reading; they are blocking everything else out to help them focus on the book they are reading.

Miller’s favorite book that she has read, she said is Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Titan’s Curse.

The fastest Miller has ever finished a book, she said, “a little under a week.”

Empathy and emotional intelligence are increased by reading when the reader understands what the person in the book feels like and feels how the character feels. 

Miller’s favorite genre of books, she said, is “action/adventure. It keeps me hooked and interested in the plot and world.”

A book that Miller would like to read but hasn’t yet read, she said, is If Orpheus Was a Carp.

Miller prefers reading physical books. She said, “I  like holding them and having them. I also collect Manga.”

Books help reduce stress when people read a genre that won’t remind them of whatever they need to escape. When people read silently, it causes muscle tension and heart rate to be slow but steady. 

Miller’s favorite series she has read is Percy Jackson (plus Heroes of Olympus and Trials of Apollo).

Reading causes lifelong learning. It helps improve your memory by having to remember what happens in the book as you get farther in. There are multiple words in books, and you are not always going to know every single one, so sometimes you learn a new word, increasing your vocabulary.

Miller’s favorite bookmarks are “metal bookmarks or little tab sticky notes.”

 Books increase people’s knowledge as they continue to learn more about the world around them, if it is nonfiction, and how far imagination can go if it is fantasy.

A book Miller has read multiple times, she said, was “Scary Stories for Young Foxes is a book I read at least three times in elementary school.”