My Reading Autobiography

My Reading Autobiography 

Everyone has a bookshelf in their room. At least, this was my mindset growing up. I loved reading and loved being read to. In my primary grades, my mom and dad would read to me until I fell asleep. They never complained about which books I wanted them to read. I would come home excited from school with my library book, and even if I read it, I would request to start at the beginning. They would tell me to sit or lie down, and then they would start. These years I read The Boxcar Children, Nate the Great, Nancy Drew, The Magic Tree House, Babysitters Club, and probably others I do not remember. My mom would take me to yard sales so we could find books to read when we were able to. These books are still sitting on my kids' bookshelves.

When we moved to Germany when I was in 6th grade, I stopped reading for a little while. Not because I wanted to, but we were limited on what we had access to. The only place to buy English books was at the PX, and their book section for all ages was the size of a patient's room at the doctor's. The post library selection was just as limited and out of date, and rarely would they order anything new. When I started school, our library selection was still limited, but I could at least find more books for my age. But because of all this, it made me leave my comfort zone of books that I loved at the time, which were mostly mysteries. My history teacher, Mr. O’Brain, that year started teaching about Egypt and the pharaohs, and I fell in love with it. He introduced me to the mythology stories of their Gods and Goddesses. He had a collection of books about all of them and would let me check them out. From 6th to 8th, I read about all the different Gods and goddesses across many cultures. This topic was something that didn’t change, so it opened up being able to find books at the old library and tapes that were read aloud. To this day, I still love these stories.. 

At the very end of my 7th-grade year, we moved back to the States. My 8th-grade homeroom teacher would read aloud the last 20 minutes of the day, and she read books by Lois Duncan. These stories combined my love of mystery and mythology and brought me into the world of the supernatural. Since then, my love of the fantasy genre has not left. In high school, my love of reading only grew, and my parents supported it fully. My mom would go with me to Barnes and Noble for book release nights because I didn’t have any friends who were readers like me. In high school, I read the Twilight Series, Hunger Games, any book about fairies, Mortal Instruments, and hundreds of others. I found one library that was off-post that had the largest collection of books. Once I started driving, my parents would let me go once a week.

Reading is always a memory of happiness. It would fill any void of loneliness whenever we would move to new places, and it was a perfect companion whenever we would travel to see family. I always had at least two books with me. Now it is a little easier because I can read books on my phone, but my oldest daughter, a 5th grader, is always carrying around 3 books. I love seeing it because I see myself all over again. 

I am still an avid reader. I read anywhere between 100-200 books a year, and that is not counting the books I read to my kids or my students. If I were to count that, it would easily be triple the amount. When I read to my kids, both personal and students, I act out the book. If the character is sad, my whole body is sad, and my voice represents that too. It makes kids want to be read too. If I do not read it the same way the next time, they will say, “that’s not how it is supposed to be read.” Then I’ll say can you read it for me and they will. I love seeing this and their excitement when they get started with reading themselves. 

I love reading. I love teaching the process of how to read. I love the process of teaching children to read. I am very passionate about making sure that reading is taught correctly and getting all kids to read. I truly believe that reading is a life skill. It opens up more opportunities, and learning to read is something that a child has a right to learn.