My Favorite Author

A short blog post from my work's website about how reading shaped my development.

I sincerely believe that the reader gene in my DNA was inherited from my grandmother. My evidence comes from my childhood memories of her taking my brother and I to the library, or her sitting on the shore reading as we swam in the lake by our house, or her taking a genuine interest in my reading for school. She always carries a book with her, usually a murder mystery or a Christian fiction. It came as no surprise when I too took up this habit in the fifth grade. As an eleven-year-old with a large imagination, I craved stories. Through the vast sea of books at the Waterboro Public Library, I encountered the book that would further solidify my status as a reader: The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan.

Rick Riordan gave me the first protagonist that I could relate to: a kid who was considered smart by everyone around them but struggled to focus and fulfill other’s expectations. Annabeth Chase helped younger me realize that she wasn’t weird for wanting to learn, and that I wasn’t alone in my feelings of frustration when I couldn’t stop fidgeting in my seat at school. This is the main reason Rick Riordan is my favorite author. Riordan’s original reason for starting the Percy Jackson series was to provide representation for kids that are like his son. When an author writes for those they care about, it manifests in the writing as relatable and genuine.

Although Riordan’s books are written for an age group that I no longer fit in, I still find myself coming back to those stories for comfort. If my reader gene really exists, Riordan is the scientist who helped me make that discovery.