Unlocking the enjoyment of reading by Zara Todd

For a long time I didn’t understand why people enjoyed books. Reading did not come easily or naturally to me.

People tried to get me to read a variety of things to unlock the enjoyment of reading, but nothing worked, until one day, when I was 9, I saw this book (a 'Horrible Histories' book) and just thought I want to read this - and I did. I haven’t stopped since.

My own experiences have taught me the importance of choosing the right book. We all look for different things from a book and just because someone else liked a book or enjoyed a book doesn’t mean you or the person you are choosing for will, even if they are the same ability.

Just because a book features someone with a disability it is not necessarily a good read or a positive representation of disability.

Books are often considered a form of escapism and a means of broadening horizons so choose books that do just that. For some people a book centred on disability would do just that whether they have a disability or not but for others it would not.

Books are an amazing aid to understanding the world and the people around us and I have spend a lot of my life wishing the able bodied world around me would read books like Lois Keith’s A Different Life so they could begin to enter the world with a different perspective.

Some of the best books I’ve read have had nothing to do with my disability and that's fine. If you desperately want a book that features disability some of the best are ones where the character’s disability doesn’t matter to the story - it's just there.

I choose books on recommendation or because something grabs me about the storyline, not whether it tackles disability. Our relationship with a book is personal and changes depending on the individual that is the important thing to remember.