Fan-girling over a favorite poem

I was in one of those moods today when you just want to write a long love-letter to reading. Yes, that’s a legit mood actually and thankfully!

However, as I began writing it down, I couldn’t capture it and kept going back to that one poem which does exactly that but wasn’t written by me. ‘But I can’t share that’, I thought initially since it wasn’t mine. Then again, all art is good as long as it inspires and enlivens emotions.

So, here I am sharing a poem that is indeed a love-letter to reading, written by the one and only Julia Donaldson, the unbeatable queen of children’s books:

I opened a book

I opened a book and in I strode.
Now nobody can find me.
I’ve left my chair, my house, my road,
My town and my world behind me.

I’m wearing the cloak, I’ve slipped on the ring,
I’ve swallowed the magic potion.
I’ve fought with a dragon, dined with a king
And dived in a bottomless ocean.

I opened a book and made some friends.
I shared their tears and laughter
And followed their road with its bumps and bends
To the happily ever after.

I finished my book and out I came.
The cloak can no longer hide me.
My chair and my house are just the same,
But I have a book inside me.