Blind mom couldn't read out stories, so he deemed books 'boring' — until one made him run to his mom

Some people miss out on common childhood experiences due to the tough circumstances they grew up in — just like this boy who never got around to reading books or understanding their value because his blind mom couldn't read stories to him as a child. After heavy efforts from a friend, he finally found a book he liked, immediately rushing to do a heartwarming and memorable thing for his mom. The same friend shared his story through a comment on Reddit from a now-deleted account.

"I once met a guy whom I really, really liked, but he didn't read. He could read, but he just didn't," the friend recounted. The guy couldn't find any enjoyment in books, and the friend was devastated because of it. "He appreciated my attempts at finding a genre he might like, as he loved stories, but he could never enjoy books." Upon visiting his mother and learning that she's blind, the friend understood the boy's predicament much better. "When he was little, she couldn't read stories to him... So she would make them up. He never developed an appreciation for books, because she couldn't give him that." However, it seems she did manage to pass on the love for stories, her oral tradition routing him back to books later in life.

"It absolutely devastated me to realize that this was an aspect of childhood that he could never know and for good reason," the friend went on. Eventually, the two of them found a book that the boy could enjoy — "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone." They added, "The first thing he did with it? He read it to his mother." In a reply, the person added, "I can't tell you how many books he read through, bored to death, before I finally realized that Harry Potter was the key. I swear those books are actually magical." Many Harry Potter fans were excited to hear that in the replies to the thread, and were glad that the guy could share such an experience with his mom later in life.

u/InkStainedShrew wrote, "I always suggest [Harry Potter] to parents of struggling readers because the series subtly grows and matures with the characters; just comparing Philosopher's Stone to Deathly Hallows, you can see that clear transition from 'kids book' to 'young adult novel.' The reader is usually so immersed in the world that the gradual sophistication isn't as noticeable and usually, far more helpful in strengthening reading skills." u/MightyMackinac commented, "Harry Potter was the key to my love of reading too! I was in the 5th grade when I won a paperback copy. My mom had to ground me from books because I wasn't getting my homework done."

u/MeowthThatsRite remarked, "As someone who read all of the Harry Potter books with his mother (She read them to me), even though I was in the 7th or 8th grade when the last one came out, this makes me really, really happy. By the time The Deathly Hallows came out, I was fully capable of reading it myself and was actually a pretty avid reader. But those moments of being able to hang out with my mom on the couch and have her spin those crazy tales that helped define my childhood are some of my most precious memories." u/knopflerpettydylan shared, "I used Harry Potter to get my brother to start reading too. They really are magic."