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How to Train a Dragon
My mom has read to my older brother (4 years older) and I since I was a baby. My mom would sit with me on her lap and my brother next to her, and read for hours on end. The two of them soon began to love the "How to Train a Dragon" series and I remember spending so much time listening to it. I think it helped me learn to speak fluently at a young age, I even understood what was going on in the books and would get involved. I soon was asking my mom for books of my own. -
Opposites
For Christmas when I was 2 and a half, I received my first book, at least first that I remember. It was a tiny book that had thick, colorful pages with one word per page. It was called "opposites". I remember sitting with my mom reading words like "Day and Night" and having her explain what the difference was. -
Forget Me Not
In the first grade, I was chosen for star of the week. With that privilege, I had to choose a picture book to read to my class. My favorite one at the time was "Forget Me Not: Beautiful Buttercup" by Michael Broad. I enjoyed reading that book and being able to share it with my class made me so happy and really made me want to continue reading. -
Barnes & Noble
In 3rd grade, I loved to read. My grandma would take me to Barnes and Noble every 2 weeks and let me pick out a book to get. I would spend hours in that store and sometimes read a book in there and their childrens section -
Spanish
In the third grade, I was learning Spanish in school. There was a poetry contest in Hartford that my friend and I entered. We were the only students in our district (the competition was grades 3-9) that were chosen to present our poem. We practiced for weeks trying to perfect our pronunciation. When the time came, we placed 8 out of 50. We were a little disappointed that we didn't win, however extremely proud that we were the youngest group to place. -
Concussion
When I was younger, my brother got concussed and couldn't do much of anything. He had to listen to a chapter book for school because he couldn't read it himself, however we couldn't find the audio book anywhere. I decided that I would help my brother out and read the book to him. I always enjoyed reading his books because he was four grades ahead and they were always more interesting and this just fueled my passion for reading harder novels. Plus, it was a good bonding moment and core memory. -
Lyme Paper
My mom has Chronic Lyme Disease. After she was diagnosed, everyday activities became nearly impossible. Her vision became way worse and she couldn't do much reading anymore. For around a year, she was bedridden. Every night, I would read my library books to her, just like she read to me as a little kid. This encouraged me to read, not only for myself, but for my mom too. She gave me reason. -
Fahrenheit 451
I read this book freshman year in Ms. A's class. In the beginning, it confused me but that just pushed me to try to understand all the deep, hidden meanings. By the end of the novel, I loved it. I had never read anything like Fahrenheit and it really opened my eyes to different types of novels.