4+Faithfulness+Class+Process+Personal+Recount.

  //**4 Faithfulness Personal Recount: My First Experience to the Library**//

Times were hard for me, 4-year old John as I did not even know how to read a short text from a story book. Envy had reigned for two years, but it seemed like eternity to me, because I had been seeing every member of my family reading, they were like bookworms - all except me, whose nickname **//just//** changed to "early reader". My sisters had always jeered at me as I did not know how to read in a 'proper way' as I initially thought that reading was just flipping pages. This is true and it made me irate. How silly I was! Yesterday was the the first time I went to the library and what an exciting and memorable experience that was! I felt thrilled as I had never been to the library before.  While walking to our destination, my mother told me about the library. She explained to me that books were interesting, exciting and fascinating! Initially, I thought reading was easy, just flipping through the pages of the book that was in my hand. Peeping at my sisters, father and mother reading, I felt like a fish out of water. Now, I finally had a chance to go to the library to read!

When I was running into the library, pulling my mother's hand, a cold breeze blew past me. A sea of people were walking around the library. What a busy place it was! A multicoloured mat was spread out on the clean floor where I could not see even a single speck of dirt! Shelves which seemed larger and taller than me were everywhere, like trees in a forest. Librarians were pushing trolleys of heavy books to and fro. The library was like a rain cloud. There was a spiraling staircase that led to the second floor. I, being a first-timer, faced an extraordinary feeling of wonderment and awe. A library was better than I thought! My mother held my hand tightly and took me to a section of the library which was labelled 'kindergarten'.

I was so elated by the sight of it! The 'kindergarten' section was like a rain cloud. There were chairs that resembled raindrops. Besides those "raindrops", the walls were painted with different types of animals. There were tigers, rabbits, snakes, gorillas... A myriad of books with bright coloured illustrations were placed on the shelves and children were lining up straightly in a row, waiting patiently for their turn on the computer. There was even a space for reading under a 'big mushroom' and it was bigger than the doors of the library! Later, my mother brought me to the animals section where I found a book about animals.

I walked to the 'big mushroom' chair in the library, sat down and started to read. There were three more books stacked beside me, whose books were those? I took one of the books and realised it was for me. After that, I put the book nicely back on the stack and continued reading. I was flipping pages and that caught my mother's eye. She stopped me from flipping and taught me how to read properly. After I read pages of the animal book, I tried //**really**// hard to read it, so as not to achieve the nickname of 'flipping reader' or be the odd one out in my educated family. After learning how to read, I realised the mistake I had made and continued reading properly. When I read this time, I not only flipped the pages, I read the book with //**much more**// understanding.

Some animals in the book were spotted like giraffes, some were striped like zebras, some with scales like fish and some were plain but unique in a way. Words started to appear in my sight. Oh no! I was starting to struggle by the sight of difficult words and I went to ask my mother about the words simultaneously. My mother was so worried that I could not read, so she started reading to me. I never ever thought that finishing a book was //such a task!// But after I had read the book, I had second thoughts.

Fortunately, with my mother's assistance, I managed to finish the whole book. Somehow, I still understood the story, but I could never convey the whole meaning of it. I could not even summarise it. When my parents asked me about what it is talking about, I flipped through the page and read what was written inside. Since I was only a 4-year old, I did not know we could borrow books from the library, but I really wanted to be in the possession of the book for at least a week. Thus, I asked my mother if we could 'take' books from the library and she nodded her head, throwing it backwards giggling at my ignorance to the world. I started taking more books from the lines of shelves, about plants, about kingdoms, about numbers...

Once my mother saw me taking lots of books from the shelves, she explained to me that we could only 'take' at most four books per person. I was devastated when I knew that I could only borrow four books each time and had to return the books before borrowing another four books. She told me that if lots of people 'took' many books at the same time, the library might run out of books. That might seem funny to a 10-year old, but at that time I really believed my mother. She also told me that the library could fine you if you returned the books after the due date.

I was feeling curious when my mother brought me to the counter. What was going on? Did I do something wrong? Were the people behind the counter going to arrest me? Are we going to pay a fine because we read the book? Suddenly, I turned as pale as a sheet and sweat trickled furiously down the nape of my neck.

I asked my mother hurriedly,"What are you doing, Mum?"

My mother explained to me that she was borrowing books. She said that we could not 'take' the books but we could only borrow the books. I started to realise that the whole process in the library was not easy. After that, we walked home happily hand-in-hand, walking with the books I borrowed from the library tucked tightly under my arms.

When I brought the book back home, I read it at least thrice to force my 'young and fresh memory' to remember them all. I thought of what had happened during my first visit to the library. The choosing of books, reading books and borrowing books. It was such a complicated process! Although it was complicated, it helped me know that things don't come easy, we need to do something to make it easier. I was looking forward to another trip to the library as it was a memorable experience. Why? Every first experience is a memorable one. Having to read books, that is something I've been waiting for a long time. Through this first experience, I met new 'friends', books. I devoured one book after another, many happy hours were spent at home and in the library with them as my silent companions. Well, I am just a 'early reader', but at least I am not a 'flipping reader'!