Shivani Awasthi (12) learned to read much later than other children of her age group. But once she started, she couldn’t stop.

“You know how people like watch movies and TV, and they say they’re addicted and can’t stop?” she said. “It’s like that when you pick up a good book. You want to see what happens at the end of it.”

Inspired by the books she read, Shivani took her hobby to another level in fourth grade when she attempted to write a novel herself.

“It was a mess. One of my friends dug it up and posted it on my wall for my birthday, and it’s legitimately the worst things I’ve ever read,” Shivani said. “I’ve thought about [writing], especially when you read a bad book and you’re like, ‘I could write a book better than this.’ Maybe one day.”

Although Shivani’s brother did not read at first, Shivani introduced reading to him as a pastime.

“Basically, the first time, she had to force me to read one of the books that she liked, and she helped me find a genre that I liked,” her brother said. “She forced me to sit down and read, and that’s how I found the Harry Potter Series. Now, it’s one of my favorite books.”

Although the workload of high school has reduced time time she spends reading for leisure, she catches up during school breaks. She spends most summers in New Delhi with her family, exchanging and borrowing books from her cousins. She estimates that she reads anywhere from thirty-five to forty books each summer.

“My grandma’s dad was this huge author in India, and he won this really important award; he’s super literate,” she said, “[My grandma] studied English in college, too. My mom has always been a bookworm. In New Delhi, we go to the same bookshop she went to when she was a little kid, and the guy knows her by name. He gives us a discount because he used to give my mom a discount.”

Shivani continues to delve into novels throughout her high school career.
“Honestly, it’s so bad; if I find a good book, I will stay up until 3 a.m. I’m just as good at binging books as I am binge watching Netflix,” she said. “You’re so invested emotionally in the characters, and the story, and what’s going to happen, and it’s fascinating.”