Lunch Money by Nathan

Lunch Money by Nathan - May 2017 Scholarship Essay

One day, in fifth grade my teacher took my class on visit to our campus library. I remember at that age I would walk into the library and look at all the books, and feel almost restless because I wanted to read all of them, but knew I could not. Often times, I didn’t even know where to start looking. That day, my teacher pointed me in the direction of the fiction section. It was in this area that stumbled upon a book called Lunch Money by Andrew Clements.
For many, this book may sound obscure and likely few have actually heard of it or even read it, but for me this book truly changed the way I saw reading. I remember reading this book, about a normal elementary school boy who starts writing comics and selling them to his friends at school. For a whole week I could not put this book down and spent all my free time reading it. This book truly excited me and inspired me to want to read even more, and I actually started writing my own comics trying to copy the main character of the book.
After completing Lunch Money, I continued to read many of the other books written by Andrew Clements. I truly believe I read every single book he has ever written. I remember reading Frindle, Laundry News, Week in the Woods, Extra Credit, and Room One. These books truly shaped my childhood and inspired me to be an avid reader. In elementary school, I would go on to win the “Principal’s Reading Challenge”, in back to back years, which meant I read more books that anyone else in the elementary school.
To this day, I continue to read books at every opportunity. However, it was that first book, Lunch Money, in fifth grade that truly started it all. That book is what set off, and inspired my love for books and reading, and for that reason it has had a major impact on my life.