"My bursting heart must find vent at my pen." -Abigail Adams

Assignment: Write and be ready to share a story of your nostalgic look back at some of the children's books you read or were read when you were a child (from your home and school memories). It is your reading autobiography, beginning with your earliest memories of books and reading and continuing to the present. What experiences, teachers, or books do you remember? Are the memories happy or unhappy? Post the links to your blogs with the stories.

Cite: Google Images

Once upon a time when I was a child...

Learning how to read was a nerve wrecking, challenging, and colorful journey throughout my life. When I was younger, reading was always profoundly difficult for me. I suffered from transient hearing loss at a young age. After having two myringotomy procedures, I was able to hear the same as everyone else I knew. For those who have not heard of this procedure it's simply to relieve pressure from the eardrum as a result of chronic ear infections. Since I was unable to ear sounds correctly for a few years, my phonemic awareness was quite poor. However, my mother constantly read books to me every morning when I woke up and every night before bed. One book I remember being read to me each night was Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. I simply adored the illustrations in this book but could not yet read on my own. 

Once the surgeries were over with, learning how to read became a bit easier for me, but I still had a hard time because I was a few grades behind my fellow classmates as far as literary knowledge. The first book I remember reading on my own was Go, Dog Go! by P.D. Eastman. I still remember how excited I was after finishing the book because I was finally reading fluently on my own. Below is an audio version of the book. During this time, my favorite book was Angelina On Stage by Helen Craig because I loved ballet. 

Cite: Google Images

As I grew older I fell in love with Amelia Bedelia, Nancy Drew, and the Boxcar Children series. Judy Bloom and Beverly Cleary were easily my favorite authors. My mother instilled in me the love of reading because she always had her nose in a book, and just like any young girl, I wanted to be just like her. However, as I progressed through 5th-8th grade, reading was very difficult for me again. I began to dislike reading because the language was difficult to comprehend. I would practice every day with teachers, and I would also go to reading tutors for more help. Reading just became exhausting after a while. I did not start to enjoy reading again until after high school because I wasn't forced to read anymore. I wound up reading 6-8 books a summer that I preferred and my imagination began to flourish more than ever. Reading has played an incredible part in my life and I'm happy to share that new found love with the people around me. Reading opens the doors to so many tremendous adventures and molds a person into who they will eventually become. I want to share that world with all of my future students. 

Cite: Google Images