By Yanni Vourkoutiotis

I joined RSGC in grade six, and every summer since then Mr. Beatty has encouraged both the Junior and Senior schools to choose a book to read over the course of the summer. For many of my classmates, this was a thorn in their side, as they detested reading. This never bothered me, however, as I was a voracious reader during my time in the Junior school. I would read anything I could get my hands on. From crime novels to sci-fi, I loved every single category, except for romance novels, which bored me because I didn’t understand the “technical parts” that were often included.

My love of reading died, however, as I entered seventh grade. The books I loved were too childish for me, and adult novels were too challenging for me. So, as I was stuck in this rut, I succumbed to Netflix and gaming, which most of my friends had done earlier. The only books I read then were textbooks and the required reading for English class. This went on until grade ten when I started to hit my social stride and began seeing lots of horror movies with my friends. It became our thing, to see almost every single horror movie that came out in the cinema. We would see terrible ones such as Oculus, to much better ones such as The Conjuring. We did this all of grade 10, until the summer came around, and everyone got Mr. Beatty’s email about summer reading again.

At this point for my parents, Mr. Beatty’s “encouragement” meant that I had to read something, so I was lost as what to read entering the summer before grade eleven. That’s when the trailer came out for the movie IT. It looked amazing, and I got numerous texts from my friends exclaiming how we had to see it. I looked for a release date for the movie, when I saw an article titled “Stephen King’s terrifying novel IT adapted for film.”

It was the perfect solution. The best way to get ready for the movie was to read the book and get my summer reading over. I purchased the book, and it captivated me immediately. It was my first horror novel, and it kept me on the edge of my seat. I couldn’t put the book down, and I finished it in three days. Then I reread it again, and again, as each time I reread the book I noticed something new I didn’t notice before.

This was how IT came to be one of my favorite novels ever and introduced me to all of Stephen King’s books, which I am still currently reading. I also saw IT in the theatre, and I absolutely loved it. Overall, this summer really helped get me back into reading, which, after such a long absence, feels just the same as when I was in sixth grade reading The Lightning Thief.