A reading memoir

Photo by Jay Mantri

Reading never really interested me until the summer after sixth grade. But the funny thing is, throughout elementary school, I was always involved in reading, somehow, some way. In first grade, I was part of the AR (Advanced Reading) club that mainly tested my reading comprehension. I would read a variety of books and then take a test about the book. And the only reason why I was in it was because my first-grade teacher, Ms. Howard, oversaw the whole program and, I guess she saw potential in me and asked me to be a part of it. I agreed because it gave me something to do after school. But that was really one of the only times when I actually read. When I got home from school, I would usually watch TV or play.
My older sister also used to take my siblings and me to the library a lot and read to us there, even checking out some books to read to us at home. That was fun, and it piqued up my interest, but I mainly just went because I wanted to check out some of the movies and grab a free cookie on the way home or some ice cream from Arctic Circle if my sister was nice enough to buy some that day.
It wasn’t until the third or fourth grade when I got slightly more interested in reading. My teacher, Ms. Meenen, was reading a fantasy book to the class about dragons. I wanted to read along and better envision the story. So, the next day when the class went to the library, I got the book and read along with her. It was very interesting, and I genuinely enjoyed the story, but that still didn’t really inspire me to want to read on my own.
It wasn’t until sixth grade when my teacher, Ms. Hansen made everyone do reading bingo that I started to read more on my own. Basic gist, as part of our Language Arts grade, we had to independently read five books from different genres and then write a little paper on the book. I learned a lot about FDR, read Marley and Me and cried of course, and in general actually start going to the county library by myself. However, what made me really enjoy reading was the book Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke. It was unlike anything I’ve ever read before, dragons, a journey, and adventure. That made me want to read more books like it and other books in general. And I did, and I haven’t stopped since.
In conclusion, dragons helped me gain a love of reading.

And now the weather:
Rich Love by OneRepublic

~ Stacy N.

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