The magic carpet called books

Sprawled in front of the air cooler with stolen munchies and silence from the slumbering household for company, my books and I have spent many hot summer afternoons escaping into a world where imagination knew no boundaries. An ideal world or should I say a snow globe of possibilities? A world that offered escape from the tedium of school homework, the banalities of house chores and the sheer boredom that would stem from sloth and inertia. A world where one day I could be a princess in glass slippers, another day a cape-wearing superhero or some days I could be both – saving the world from catastrophes, villains and, most importantly, from monotony. Shutting out the so-called dreariness of everyday life that my younger self could not apprehend.

As American author Stephen King once said and I quote, ‘Books are a uniquely portable magic'. They are not only that rabbit hole to a fantastical world or that door which magically opens when you say ‘open sesame' allowing you access to a treasuretrove of unforgettable experiences, but within its pages you find a sense of affiliation – a connect with a character, situation or a thought that offers support and comfort like nothing else. As Dubai-based children's author and avid reader Ebitsam Al-Beiti points out in the feature ‘Joys of reading' on

As Stephen King once said, ‘Books are a uniquely portable magic’. They are that rabbit hole to a fantastical world allowing you access to a treasuretrove of unforgettable experiences

page 19, books are a resource. A tool that helps kids to come out of their claustrophobic, parochial shells and be empathetic global citizens, open to new experiences.

As UAE calls March the Reading Month, highlighting the relevance of the written word, here's hoping we all take the opportunity to pick up a book and embark on a journey of new learnings.