As a child the bookshelves in our home were always full of reading material, now whether or not we were allowed to actually read them depended on my mother. My mother collected books from as far back as I can remember. She was what you would call a hoarder of sorts. She loves things and books were one of those things. There were certain books that I was not allowed to touch. Those were the books used as decoration and were meant to stay pretty. Now my mom thought it was very important that we start reading at an early age so she did manage to make sure that my sisters and I had plenty of reading material that we could touch and read.
I remember learning to read at the age of five. “The words themselves were mostly foreign” but reading came to me naturally.(397) I picked up on reading really fast. One the things I remember was the Hooked on Phonics kit my mother had ordered. My sisters and I would play teacher for hours at a time. I believe this kit was very beneficial to my learning how to read.
When I was younger there was a set of books based on Disney characters. Not like the books they sell today. My mother ordered these from the same salesman she had ordered her encyclopedias from. I cannot recall the name of the series or a name of one of the books. I do remember that the one book with Donald Duck was my most favorite out of them all. I chose this one particular book over all the others even the ones with Disney princesses in them. You could have me recite this book when I was younger and I bet you that no words would have been missed. Now all I can remember about my favorite book as child was that Donald learned a lesson. He learned that slow and steady always wins the race. This book was a spinoff to the traditional fable of the Tortoise and the Hare.
As I grew older my love for reading dwindled. I found it harder to really get into books because I felt like I was forced to read. That is no fun. Reading should be like an extracurricular activity. It should be something you really enjoy doing. My freshman year of high school I found a series that would bring my love for reading back. This series contained 8 books and was called “The Love Comes Softly” series. I could read for hours at time and never get bored. Unfortunately, I read this series within a month but I never could get the characters out of my mind. What was funny is that a few years after reading hey actually made a television series on this book series. I have heard it said more than once that the book is always better than the movie and this proved true in this case as well.
When I think back to my childhood and where my reading adventures started, I still see that little wood rocker. The little wood rocker that I would spend hours in teaching my imaginary class how to read. I am very thankful for my mother who thought it was very important to learn to read at such a young age and who was so pushy when it came to our schooling. She wanted my sisters and I to have the best head start in school. I am lucky.(399) I do hope to instill the love for reading in my children at a young age and I hope that they never go through the reading slump that I suffered.
