It’s the most wonderful time of the year once again, and of course when I say that I mean we are entering the summer reading season here at the library.
That’s right, it’s the time when you can take a stab at that “To Be Read” pile of books you’ve been planning to read for months (or years; no judgement), and win prizes like a new book from the library that you can put right back on that stack of books.
Now, this year we are encouraging people to Embrace the Wild, and let me tell you, I know a thing or two about getting wild. I mean, some days I have three scoops of ice cream after dinner and stay up ’til midnight. I know. I’m a party animal.
Okay, maybe I’m not the best example of embracing the wild, but when I heard this theme for the first time, I got to thinking about how the meaning could be interpreted. Of course, there’s what I consider to be the obvious literal meaning, where you go where the wild things are and seek adventure in the wilderness.
But that’s not where my brain went. Instead, I began thinking about how, sometimes, there are dreams or aspirations that might seem wild or crazy, and how sometimes we need to give ourselves permission to embrace this wild thought to take a chance, make a change and break away to a better life.
Now there could be a million different reasons as to why I initially felt this way about the theme of summer reading, but more than likely the big influence on me was what I was reading at the time. I know what you’re thinking: who would have thought that reading would have an impact on my interpretation of the world at large?! Truly that is a novel concept. Anyway, enough with the puns and sarcastic remarks; what was this book that really evoked such a response? Well, ironically, it was a book that was on my “To Be Read” stack for a while: Camp by L. C. Rosen. .
Camp is a book that takes place at an LGBTQIA+ summer camp. Our main character, Randy, has made the decision to change everything about himself to win the heart of a boy. Obviously, Randy, who did theatre every year prior, must have seen Grease and learned from Sandy that changing your entire personality to win the heart of a boy is a great plan.
However, like most romantic comedies, everything works until suddenly, it doesn’t. A heartbroken Randy realizes he’s wasted half of his summer camp experience to end up having neither his crush nor a role in the musical, which he has been missing and wishing he was a part of.
You’ll have to pick up the book and read it yourself if you want to know how it ends, so go ahead and put that one on the pile too.
Why did this get me thinking about how we should embrace wild thoughts and give ourselves permission to act upon them? Surely this story is more of a cautionary tale that you shouldn’t do because the wild plan that Randy came up with to woo his crush didn’t work exactly as planned. To that I say: that is true, no matter how flawed the plan was to begin with. However, through this plan Randy did learn new things about himself, like how he also enjoyed obstacle courses and other physical activities. He learned more about himself as a performer, and probably most importantly, he learned that people are complex and more than how they present themselves. For me, this book got me to think about how short life can be, much like only having four weeks at a summer camp. You only have so long to do the things that will make you happy. How I hurt to see Randy longing for the theatre but denying that part of him because someone else wouldn’t like it.
That’s when I turned to the summer reading theme: Embrace the wild. Randy surely embraced the wild impulse when he concocted this extravagant charade, and I’m definitely not saying to go to that extreme. But give yourself permission to listen to yourself when you hear your heart longing for something.
Maybe you wanted to learn to play the violin. Perchance you wished you learned how to yodel. This summer, take that chance, finally do the “I always wished I coulds,” even if it is to tackle that dang growing “To be read” pile. Hey, the library might even be having a program that would help you explore these interests free of charge! Or if you wanted to expand the reaches of that amassing pile of books, maybe try out a new genre. Feel free to ask our discovery book list team to make a curated list for you.
Whatever it looks like to you, I hope you embrace the wild and find that bliss.