Jinsol K.'s “Reading with My Sister” is a phenomenal piece that tells of the bond she and her sister shared as book-lovers. With descriptions of their love of reading – particularly the Harry Potter series – Jinsol illustrates a kinship that is relatable and heart-warming. She chronicles how with the start of high school and an increasing workload, her thoughts of quidditch, the Ministry of Magic, and Dumbledore's death faded – along with her relationship with her sister.

Jinsol's lyrical style is evident throughout the piece. “Communication” is the way she described what her literary adventures meant to her and her sister, in addition to being “the glue that linked [them] and gave [them] both a sense of belonging.”

Jinsol's narrative is highly relatable, especially to someone with a sibling, like me. Reading her story brought back memories of my sister and me as children, when we would cram ourselves into the sofa chair in our living room to watch TV together. Scenes of melted popsicles dripping down our chins filled my mind and the sound of our laughter from a silly cartoon once again resonated in my ears. Jinsol and her sister's later distance – the “distance that grew like bamboo shoots after the rain” – seemed to parallel the detachment I felt toward my sister as we grew up. But, the last sentence, with its telling of the opening of a “new, but old” book, prompted me to think that perhaps the book was a symbol for the beginning of a new chapter of hope in every sibling's connection with a sister or brother.
Thank you, Jinsol, for taking me back to the childhood I shared with my sister, and for reminding me that kinship never completely fades.