Growing up in a family of five kids, life can be pretty hectic sometimes. When you want things to go one way, they usually go the other. You feel like you have to compete for attention even if you don't actually have to. Like any normal kid who isn't popular that just goes with the flow, school can sometimes be a chore. Dealing with people who hate you for no reason and suffering through classes you don't even want to be in, life can start to feel a little exhausting. The sound of your alarm clock in the morning can actually start to sound like a broken record, playing the same prison chimes you hear day in and day out. It's definitely not the worst life in the world, granted. But, you just feel trapped. Books can become the most beautiful escape.

There are millions of words in the English language and thousands of people who have a talent for taking ordinary words and twisting them into something altogether spectacular. Authors are one of the most gifted sets of artists. They are able to transform a simple sentence into a gateway for the imagination to transport their readers into a whole new universe, one that is made entirely of paper and ink, but feels like a living breathing creature. Every new book is a chance at a new beginning, a look into a world that the reader's eyes have never seen before. Every old book is a good friend, well-known and loved. It's a joy to be with them again. The possibilities behind a book are endless.

Authors write words and words alone. They envision the world in their own special way and try to capture it on paper for their readers. So much of the beauty behind books is actually in the reader's hands. Books leave most of the real work up to the reader. The reader is the one who must read, interpret and imagine the world the other themselves once saw. The reader is the one who must put themselves into the story, they must see through the protagonist's eyes or see themselves as the protagonist's greatest ally. Without the ability to imagine, without creativity, books are just mundane words on a page. All a book needs to transform you from a teenager sitting in bed at night to a warrior facing unknown peril, a princess in a tower, a ghost hunter -- all a book needs to take you away from your life and let you become someone else for a while -- is you.