As a child, I was a quite active boy. I was running around and getting hurt almost every day. My mom was worried. A neighbor advised me to learn to fish. I liked the idea, but my mom said no. A few years ago, I almost lost my life in a river. Then, I was kept away from any body of water!

At last, my mom wanted me to read books. Every day, she made me sit on a chair and read for an hour. As a boy, I liked playing outside and cried a lot. Then, my uncle, a teacher, came to help. He brought me many books and told me to pick one and read just the first twenty pages. “If you’re still bored after that, just put it down and pick another one,” he said.

I started off with The Enormous Crocodile (《巨大的鳄鱼》). After twenty pages, I was lying on the floor and laughing. This crocodile wants to eat children for a change, so he makes himself look like a seesaw (跷跷板) on a playground. Next, I read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Fantastic Mr. Fox. Both stories were exciting and easy to understand.

As time went on, I started reading longer and more serious books. I was in the middle of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn when my mom said I should spend more time playing outside. But the book was too interesting to put down. To this day, I make time to read every day.

If you haven’t yet experienced the fun of reading, take my uncle’s advice and find the “Right” books. They’ll give you enjoyment, teach you something new, and even change your life.

Nowadays, reading is becoming more and more important, so teachers always encourage（鼓励）their students to read more famous works like The Little Prince, Charlotte’s Web and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and so on.

Among them, the students like Charlotte’s Web best. It’s written by American author E.B. White. The novel tells a story of a pig named Wilbur and his friendship with a spider named Charlotte on a farm. When Wilbur is in danger of being killed for his meat by the farmer, Charlotte writes a message to praise（表扬）Wilbur in her web and saves him. Wilbur becomes famous in the village and he is safe in the end. When it came out in 1952, the book was welcomed by adults and children. And it’s still very popular today.

Reading books is a good hobby for all kinds of reasons.

First, reading books is fun. You can always enjoy yourself if you like reading. This is especially useful when the weather is bad. It is a relaxing way, too. You can really become lost in a book.

Next, you can read a book almost anywhere: in a car, in a waiting-room, on a plane, in bed, even in the bath. Reading is convenient(方便的) as it is easy to stop and then start again.

Thirdly, it is helpful to read books. If you read as a hobby, you will get better and better at it. This means that you will read faster and become better at understanding what you read. As your reading improves, you will probably find your schoolwork much easier. Some people say that reading is out of date(过时的). This is not true. You have to read on the Internet. And the better you read, the better your computer skills will be. Good readers are most likely to be good writers, too. They are usually good at spelling and have more things to write about.