Early Reading Meme
I can't resist reading memes. This one's from Kate's Book Blog.
1. How old were you when you learned to read and who taught you?
I was four and I taught myself. I did used to make my mom write out the alphabet for me all the time so I could copy it. And I remember copying the words in books right above the printed word. But my parents tell the story of when they were reading a familiar story to me, I think it was Pinocchio, and they started to paraphrase, I corrected them and asked why they weren't reading the words anymore. And that's when they saw I could read.
2. Did you own any books as a child? If so, what’s the first one that you remember owning? If not, do you recall any of the first titles that you borrowed from the library?
We had shelves and shelves. There is a picture of my sister and I in our pajamas sitting on our books which we had lain flat edge to edge across the whole living room rug. I'm going to my parents' later, I'll have to find it. The very earliest book I remember loving was this one with penguins and it was some kind of phonics book. (I think it was one of the ones that helped me learn to read. I've always been a phonics/linguistics nerd.) Then there was a brown book with a lion on the cover that was like a Time/Life nature book of all different animal photographs. I pored over that one. I also loved Arty the Smarty.
The book I remember borrowing from the library every single month was Peppermint Fence which was actually an old reading textbook. I later found it on eBay and now I have my own copy.
3. What's the first book that you bought with your own money?
Hmm. I remember the first cassette tape I bought with my own money because I had such buyer's remorse as soon as I left the record store that I went right back in and tried to return it. They wouldn't take it. It was Madonna's True Blue. But the first book with my own money? I remember borrowing money from my sister to buy Judy Blume's Forever and then feeling so guilty because it had so much sex in it and my sister was still in elementary school. (Not that I let her see it.) Anyway, it must have been Sweet Valley High books. I was crazy for those and the Babysitter's Club series in 5th/6th grade. Prior to that it was a lot of Beverly Cleary, Nancy Drew, and Judy Blume for the younger set. And then there was Betsy's Little Star which was actually the first chapter book I ever read but I feel like my mom must have bought that one for me.
4. Were you a re-reader as a child? If so, which book did you re-read most often?
I was not a re-reader. I remember my best friend constantly re-reading her favorite book, Freddie the Thirteenth about a girl from a huge family, and I always thought that was so weird of her to do. The first and only book I ever read more than once (three times, to be exact) was Jane Eyre.
5. What’s the first adult book that captured your interest and how old were you when you read it?
Like Kate from Kate's Book Blog it was probably Gone with the Wind. My sixth-grade teacher loved it and showed us the movie in class and, of course, I got all enamored with it and had to be Scarlett O'Hara for Halloween that year. So I did read it that year I was eleven. But now that I think of it, Little Women may have come first.
6. Are there children’s books that you passed by as a child that you have learned to love as an adult? Which ones?
No, but I can do the opposite--books I read as a young teenager that I could never read now. I used to read tons of Christopher Pike and Dean Koontz novels. Now I'm scared of my own shadow. I don't know how I did it back then. (I do think I'm more easily disturbed by scary and violent material now that I'm a mom, though.)
1. How old were you when you learned to read and who taught you?
I was four and I taught myself. I did used to make my mom write out the alphabet for me all the time so I could copy it. And I remember copying the words in books right above the printed word. But my parents tell the story of when they were reading a familiar story to me, I think it was Pinocchio, and they started to paraphrase, I corrected them and asked why they weren't reading the words anymore. And that's when they saw I could read.
2. Did you own any books as a child? If so, what’s the first one that you remember owning? If not, do you recall any of the first titles that you borrowed from the library?
We had shelves and shelves. There is a picture of my sister and I in our pajamas sitting on our books which we had lain flat edge to edge across the whole living room rug. I'm going to my parents' later, I'll have to find it. The very earliest book I remember loving was this one with penguins and it was some kind of phonics book. (I think it was one of the ones that helped me learn to read. I've always been a phonics/linguistics nerd.) Then there was a brown book with a lion on the cover that was like a Time/Life nature book of all different animal photographs. I pored over that one. I also loved Arty the Smarty.
The book I remember borrowing from the library every single month was Peppermint Fence which was actually an old reading textbook. I later found it on eBay and now I have my own copy.
3. What's the first book that you bought with your own money?
Hmm. I remember the first cassette tape I bought with my own money because I had such buyer's remorse as soon as I left the record store that I went right back in and tried to return it. They wouldn't take it. It was Madonna's True Blue. But the first book with my own money? I remember borrowing money from my sister to buy Judy Blume's Forever and then feeling so guilty because it had so much sex in it and my sister was still in elementary school. (Not that I let her see it.) Anyway, it must have been Sweet Valley High books. I was crazy for those and the Babysitter's Club series in 5th/6th grade. Prior to that it was a lot of Beverly Cleary, Nancy Drew, and Judy Blume for the younger set. And then there was Betsy's Little Star which was actually the first chapter book I ever read but I feel like my mom must have bought that one for me.
4. Were you a re-reader as a child? If so, which book did you re-read most often?
I was not a re-reader. I remember my best friend constantly re-reading her favorite book, Freddie the Thirteenth about a girl from a huge family, and I always thought that was so weird of her to do. The first and only book I ever read more than once (three times, to be exact) was Jane Eyre.
5. What’s the first adult book that captured your interest and how old were you when you read it?
Like Kate from Kate's Book Blog it was probably Gone with the Wind. My sixth-grade teacher loved it and showed us the movie in class and, of course, I got all enamored with it and had to be Scarlett O'Hara for Halloween that year. So I did read it that year I was eleven. But now that I think of it, Little Women may have come first.
6. Are there children’s books that you passed by as a child that you have learned to love as an adult? Which ones?
No, but I can do the opposite--books I read as a young teenager that I could never read now. I used to read tons of Christopher Pike and Dean Koontz novels. Now I'm scared of my own shadow. I don't know how I did it back then. (I do think I'm more easily disturbed by scary and violent material now that I'm a mom, though.)
posted by Camille at 1:10 PM
3 Comments:
Well, you see why I joined the "From the Stacks" Winter Reading Challenge--because it's all about reading books you already own, which I seem to have a problem doing.
I just stumbled upon your blog today and glad that I did. Several parts of my house resemble your nightstand. The problem for me with the From the Stacks challenge is that I have enough material to keep me busy for a year! I'm really interested to read Bryson's A Short History... now that I've read your posts about it. I read a lot of science writing too.
Wow you have a great memory! I am going to try to do this one on my blog later.
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