Books saved my life

No one would know this now 

From the way I suck up words 

Books done in one sleepless night 

It seems I've been reading my whole life 

But in third grade 

I read at a kindergarten level 

Pictures were all I knew 

Everyone assumed I would never read 

Slowly I climbed 

Eleventh-grade level in fifth grade 

I found myself in the worlds on those pages 

Learned I could be myself 

That's it's beautiful to be happy 

I dreamed and dreamed 

Of fantasy lands I wished were real life 

I wondered what it would be like 

To ride a dragon 

To meet an elf 

To fly on a broomstick 

To fall in love 

My current self 

Is built from my childhood dreams 

Fueled from middle-grade fiction 

Harry Potter 

The Penderwicks 

The Hobbit 

The Green Glass House 

Tamora Pierce 

I'm a romantic thanks to YA novels 

I'm a dreamer thanks to strong women from A to Z 

I'm an artist thanks to picture books 

I'm me thanks to that teacher in third grade 

Who believed in me like no one else