The Magic of Reading
A change of passion from football to reading
In a generation where reading and homework is viewed as “uncool”, football players who can barely read or write are idolized. However, one player is different than the rest. Malcolm Mitchell is an extraordinary football player who has already taken home a super-bowl ring and is breaking down the stereotypical wall that football players are “illiterate brutes”.
At one point in his career, Malcolm Mitchell was perceived the same way as a stereotypical football player. It was one of his biggest fears that he was going to have to read aloud to the class. He even said, “Playing football in front of 92,000 fans every Saturday seemed easy, but I dreaded reading aloud in front of anyone,” showing that he was once the “illiterate brute” all football players appear to be. However, unlike other football players, he defied the stereotype and changed how people thought about him.
The transformation from a life of passion in football to a life of passion in reading and writing took place during his freshman year when he began to focus on reading out of sheer embarrassment. He knew that his literary skills were inferior to the other kids in his class, but he decided he needed to start reading. This decision led to a solid foundation of common knowledge and developed his reading skills even further every time he read a book.
This growth of passion eventually led him to a Barnes and Noble in Athens, Georgia where he was looking around for new material to read. He ran into a woman and asked for a recommendation on what to read. She told him what she was reading and eventually invited him to join her book club. It was meant as a joke, but Malcolm, trying to enhance his ability to read, was all for the idea. This is a crucial event to the growth of his reading ability, forcing him to read a new book every week. It was a notably crucial event that influenced his reading and writing abilities. Though he can no longer come to the weekly meetings, he still considers himself a member of the club and knows that the women in the club will support him in everything he does for the remainder of his life.
The women helped Malcolm reach the true peak of his passion for reading when he wrote The Magician’s Hat. This is a book that has a massive amount of sentimental meaning to Malcolm, not only because it is his first and only book, but it teaches children that reading is the key to success. Malcolm is a strong believer in this process. He is even quoted saying, “You can accomplish whatever goal you can visualize for yourself. Every time you open up a book and you flip a page you get a step closer”.
The Magician’s Hat is a book in which a Magician named Dave, a character who portrays Malcolm’s inner feelings, teaches the children they can be anything through reading by using magic. Malcolm was much like the children at one time not really interested in reading, until he went to the University of Georgia where he learned the value and pleasure you receive from reading. the children were enthralled by his amazing tricks, but Malcolm knew they were nothing compared to Dave’s last trick. His last trick was one that required volunteers and taught the children a crucial lesson about life, Dave asked the children to come up after asking them what they wanted to be in the future. The children volunteered told Dave what they wanted to be, he then would make them come up and pull something out of his hat. The children would come up to the magician and pull a book that coincided with what they said they wanted to be out of his hat. However, one child named Ryan was curious of the trick thinking Dave had just asked the parents of the two children prior to himself what they wanted to be, then placed the book in there while no one was looking. Ryan then said he wanted to be a dog and was shocked when he pulled a book about space out of the hat because deep down Ryan wanted to be an astronaut. Malcolm then portrayed his inner feelings through Dave when he told the children always believe and you can accomplish what you want to be. While hinting that reading and learning will lead you down that path. Proving Malcolm’s belief that reading is the key to success and its need in your life.
Malcolm Mitchell is among a class of athletes that are considered elite, not because of their athletic ability and their passion for the sport, but for their academic merit. He created an emotional connection to something he knew he wasn’t good at in high school. His lack of ability did not deter him from the task of getting better at something he saw as more important than what his future career would be in. Instead, he worked diligently until he achieved the goal of publishing his own book, while still being able to pursue his dream of becoming a professional athlete.
