Meet the Reader with Steven!

Fall 2020 • Kids Corner

In our new Meet the Reader series, you’ll meet the readers behind KidsRead2Kids! First up is Steven, reader of the beloved classic, Peter Pan.

Listen to Steven reading Peter Pan HERE.

By Alana Blumenstein

Hi everyone! It’s Alana from KidsRead2Kids. Recently, I got the chance to talk to our good friend, Steven, who is the reader of Peter Pan. We thought it’d be special to share our conversation with you!

 Here it is:

Alana: Hi Steven! Thanks so much for joining us on our first Meet the Reader.

Steven: Hi, I'm so happy to be here and to be a part of this program. Today, I want to talk to you a little bit about myself and my love for reading.  

A: Tell us about yourself!

S: My name is Steven, I'm 20 years old. I'm a nursing student, and I absolutely love it. I'm very excited to finally be in the field.

I started reading when I was extremely young. I have three siblings, and my mom thought that it was extremely important that all of us learn how to read when we were very little. And it has been a love of mine ever since.

A: What were your favorite books growing up? What made them so special?

S: I have so many books from different areas of my life that really impacted me.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carl: My mother read this to me countless times, I probably still have it memorized to this day.

All the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss: When my mother was pregnant with my younger sibling … I read in the womb to him. I thought that it was so imaginative and so fun and so creative.

The Giver by Lois Lowry: It was required for me, but I really fell in love with the concept and the storyline.

The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth: Many of you have probably seen that movie, but the book is really incredible.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: I've read it probably five or six times, and I would read it again easily. I just remember being so inspired by the characters and how fearless they were. I just kind of wanted to be like them.

And I took that aspect and I actually applied it to my character in real life. And I feel like those are the series that made the largest and most visible impact on my character. 

A: What do you love about reading?

S: In first grade, I would pick up a book in class when it was free reading time, and I didn't even feel like I was there anymore. I loved that ability to transport myself into another world and to just be somewhere else and be immersed in another character's life.

What I love most about reading is that it allows you to kind of get away, even if you're just at home or even if you're at school. 

A: Where is your favorite reading spot and why?

S: Any place that is clean and quiet is a favorite of mine. Those are my two favorite things when I'm studying or reading. I also love reading in bed.

A: Did you have a favorite subject in school? Why?

S: Psychology and English.

English: What I loved most was sometimes we had creative writing. And that really allowed me to unleash my creativity and to put my own spin on whenever I was doing.

I really liked that it was me. And it had my own flair on it as opposed to just one book that everybody was reading.

Psychology: I enjoy learning how the mind works and applying it. I think that I make a lot of real-world connections from things that I learned in psychology. So that has been and will definitely continue to be a favorite subject of mine.

A: Here at KidsRead2Kids, we believe our biggest struggles can also be our greatest strengths (or our real-life superpower!). What is YOUR superpower?

S: I used to struggle so much in middle school and most of my high school career with just determination and focus and work ethic, and just applying myself. It wasn't that I wasn't capable of learning the material, it's that I really wasn't sitting down and dedicating myself to studying and to applying myself, I was kind of trying to blow things off.

And now I would say that's definitely my superpower. At a certain point, I just really wanted to be excellent at everything that I put my name on. Like if I was committed to a project, where I had a test coming up, and I had to sign my name at the top, I really wanted it to be 100%.

I'm definitely a bit of a perfectionist, which isn't the healthiest thing, but it certainly has made me a better student. So, I would say that my superpower now is diligence and work ethic.

I will really, really go over the top to make sure I do a phenomenal job on anything that I'm working on.

A: What, or who, is your biggest inspiration? Why? 

S: It's kind of corny, but I honestly would say that my inspiration in life as a person are my parents. Obviously, this was a very present example in my life. Your parents are two people that you often end up watching because you're always around them. So, I think it’s kind of natural to mimic your parents. But I will say I was blessed with an incredible set of parents.

They raised all four of their kids with such grace, I think, and they were very loving people and very adaptive. I threw my parents many curve-balls growing up, and they love me regardless.

And outside of that they are incredibly diligent workers. My mom and my dad are very diligent, and they love what they do. They love giving 100% and really going over the top and going that extra mile. So, I think that they are probably my biggest inspiration.

A: Did you have a role model growing up?

S: I know this sounds crazy. One of my huge role models is Beyoncé for that exact same reason I think that she is an incredible artist and she has such an attention to detail.

She just dedicated herself no matter what it is, whether it's a single performance or an album or project, you will always see her giving 100% and going over the top and I really love that.

And I also definitely have some professors that I had in high school and college who have really touched me with their love for their profession and teaching. And I also would say that I have some parents of my friends in my life, who I really admire because they turn their loves and their passions into a career. Like let's say they love architecture or real estate or art or business and they Went to turn that into a lifestyle and into a career and they built their lives off of it. So they get to do what they love, while also being successful. I think that is one of the most valuable things that you can do on this earth is create a job for yourself that you're in love with. I really admire that.

A: If you could change anything about the world, what would you change? Why?

S: I would certainly change how much compassion and empathy people have. I think that sometimes we forget to put ourselves in the shoes of others before we respond. So I tried to make a special effort to do that to stop and think about, well, how are they feeling? And they may have reacted a certain way but maybe they did that because this happened to them, you know? So that's what I would change. I would ask people to be more empathetic and to be more compassionate. So really think before you speak, and to try to understand where others are coming from before you pass judgment.

A: What advice would you give to the kids who look up to you?

S: That's crazy to think that there's a child that looks up to me, I would hope so somewhere out there. But to any child who's struggling to read, I would say to first of all, try to shift your perspective on reading.

I think that one roadblock that I went through growing up, sometimes I would be assigned a book to read. And just because I was assigned the book, I automatically didn't want to read it. I'm like, if you're gonna let me read, and I get to pick my book, cool.

 But if you handed me a book and told me I have to read chapters one through five by a certain day, I would not want to do it, because I looked at it as a task. And I think that that's important to shift your perspective on that and look at it more as something fun.

I would also say to find your genre of books that you will fall in love with. There's definitely a book out there for absolutely everybody. Whether you love thrillers or action books, horror books, fantasy books, you should really go to your library.

I would definitely suggest asking your librarian and telling them, you could even say, ‘I love these TV shows, or I love these genres. This really intrigues me; do you have any books that you would recommend for me?’

I would say don't get discouraged. If the book seems lengthy, or there's a bunch of words that you don't know, the only way that you will get to learn them as to continuously expose yourself to them, and to keep reading. So, I would just say keep going, and do your best to fall in love with the enterprise and the books that really connect with you and the things that you really connect with.

Now, a few quick favorites!

Favorite author: Mark Twain, author of the Prince and the Pauper, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

On Huckleberry Finn: I got a good kick out of that boy, riding on the river and just doing oh my goodness, if you love a good fun book, a tale of adventure, definitely read Huck Finn. Any age I would say that book is so funny.

Favorite writing style: Fantasy, Mystery

Hobbies: Guitar, singing, reading, studying, traveling, fashion and spending time with family

On studying: I know that's so corny, but I just really love what I'm studying now so I could totally get lost, and an anatomy book or a psychology book, anything like that. 

On traveling: I love just bouncing to different cities with my family and experiencing new things, meeting new people and being exposed to different cultures and just ways of life. I'm a huge fan of food. So, I love going to different cities and trying new foods and restaurants and just sitting with my family.