As part of Literacy for Understanding module, I have been involved in reading the book “Room” by Emma Donoghue. The book is about a 5 years old boy who has some good knowledge of language despite spending all 5 years of his life locked inside a room with his mum, whom he calls “Ma”. It follows the life of jack as he and his “ma” finally escape from the Room which they had been held captive in.  I found it quite difficult to enjoy reading this book at the start as there were many grammatical errors and some things didn’t make sense to me. However, as the story continued, I started to understand why Donoghue has chosen to write this book in a different style. Since the book is narrated by 5 years old Jack, I slowly started to understand that the writer has carefully chosen different words and structures to match jack’s speech.

I don’t often read for pleasure which is also why I found it quite difficult to enjoy reading this book  at the beginning. I find it challenging to find the time to finish a book which I have started reading, which is one of the reasons why I tend to read less.

Despite being confused whilst reading the first few pages of the book, I found the book “Room” to be very interesting. I enjoyed reading the book as It was not like any of the books which I had read before. I found the storyline to be very interesting. Since jack’s Ma was around the same age as me when she was kidnapped, I feel that I could sometimes understand the actions she takes.  I would recommend this book to everyone I know who is keen in taking the challenge to read a book which a unique and challenging to understand.  I would certainly recommend this book to other Student teachers as it shows how a child’s speech is developed and how environment plays a huge part in developing an individual’s language.

I found the book to quite challenging at the beginning as it was not written in a way which most of the books are written. The format of the book frustrated me and I was often put off from reading the book. Knowing that I needed to read the book for my course was one of the reasons which encouraged me to finish the book. I am glad I got the opportunity to read this book as it is definitely not a book I would have picked to read for pleasure. Having read this book, I have now started to consider reading books from different genres.

I hadn’t previously considered fictional book to be used for academic study. However, I now feel that there are some fictional book which can be used for academic study. Reading the fictional book “Room” for a university module has helped me to gain some understanding of language acquisition and development. Jack’s use of language throughout the book has helped me to understand that not every child develops in the same way.