I've always been an avid reader. I can remember asking for books for any holiday where presents are involved. My friends would ask for toys, clothes, jewelry, etc and my list would contain mostly books. I would devour any book I could get my hands on and when I was old enough to drive, I would often drive myself right to the library while other kids my age were going to the best "hangouts." I wasn't an introvert, I had a grip on reality, perfectly acceptable social skills, I had plenty of friends and liked stuff other teenage girls liked...I just preferred to be at home reading or at the library and not chasing boys at the mall ( which I'm pretty sure my parents were overly thrilled about and that's probably why they indulged me in my book obsession). I'm not really sure what started my love of books, my mom read to us every night as kids, so I'm sure that is a part of it. I think its because I'm able to picture everything so clearly in my head...but its more than that...when I'm reading a book, I get so emotionally invested in it, if its a great book, and actually feel like I know the characters or I am right there watching what's happening. As a mother of 2 kids, it's important to me that my kids read...even if its just signs (my daughter is currently going into 2nd grade and enjoys reading, my son who is still a toddler loves to "read" me stories before bed). I make sure they always have books available and they both have quite the library, if I do say so myself. I think in this day and age a lot of parents don't read to their kids enough! 20 minutes everyday.... Its such a short amount of time but can have such a profound effect on a child. So, what started your love of reading? Leave a comment and let me know!
My mom didn't read to us a lot. Not that I can remember anyway. I mean she probably did when we were infants or toddlers, but I can't remember that far back. What I do remember is that my mom always had a book. Sitting on the table, on her nightstand, on the blanket at the beach where we spent a lot of time when I was little since my mom didn't work when we were younger. I don't remember a time when I didn't see my mom reading during her down time. By the time I was able to pick out my own books and read to myself I found that I liked to use reading as an escape. School was never really what I called fun. I grew up in Bridgeton and their schools were tough to say the least. When I got home I had two older brothers to deal with. It was always way more fun to go to my room and lose myself in a book. I loved being able to go on wild adventures. With books you can go anywhere and do anything with just about anybody you want to. Your adventures are only limited by the number of books the library will allow you to take out at one time.
ReplyDelete@Shelby-- love that last sentence! Perfectly put!
ReplyDeleteMy mother's nose was always stuck in a newspaper or magazine or something else she read. She never read to me. But I was an early reader. I could read and write by the age of 4 so I'm no dumby. Just selective. Some of my favorite books to read in high school were the old Perry Mason books, but I guess my favorite outside of scriptures is To Kill a Mockingbird. Once you read that, you know that there is justice and fairness and evil in the world. And you can learn to help get rid of it.
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