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My early years were absolutely the most formative in establishing my interest in and love of reading. I vividly recall the book that made me an avid reader…Amber Brown Is Not A Crayon!

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I moved to a new city in elementary which was not great for my extreme shyness. I had very few friends and none of them enjoyed reading like I did. My early reader years can be described as solitary and imaginative. I would imagine myself as the main character and that was my reality while I read that book from start to finish. Now that I think about it, I was (am still am) a bit of an obsessive reader. It was important to me that I finished the book quickly but I’m not sure why. I would search for interesting front covers and if caught my eye, I checked it out. However, most of my book collection came from the Scholastic Book Fairs my schools hosted. I was never one to be called to the knickknacks so I would buy as many books as my mom would allow. She was a teacher and knew the importance of reading, so she often let me buy more than her wallet probably wanted to.

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My transition into a preteen/teen reader was pretty seamless as I have a brother who is 2 years older than me, so he was already into the stories I became interested in. R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series was all the rage and one of my favorite memories was when my parents bought my brother and I a bookshelf that we filled with what looked like all the series’ books. While I made more friends and was less lonely, many of them didn’t enjoy reading much. In school when we were asked to talk about our hobbies, etc. I felt a little embarrassed that I would be known as a book nerd so I would just save reading for after school. Kids can be judgmental! Outside of school though, I had a book everywhere I went.

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The book is better than the movie...except for the Leonardo DiCaprio part.

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As an older teen, I didn’t read as a hobby much anymore. Every year of high school, I had very tough/strict English and Social Studies class teachers. The ones that intimidate you just by being in the same space as you! They had super high expectations that all required reading and assignments were due on time and no time was wasted so we spent the majority of the time reading and writing papers. I recall comprehension was wildly important because writing was attached so I think there was correlation between this and the fact that I didn’t find reading as fun anymore. However, I loved the approach my senior year English teacher had. She never told us what assignment we’d be doing before we finished reading novels. She wanted us to read for pleasure. This helped me develop a love of biographies, poems by Edgar Allan Poe, and a lasting interest in The Great Gatsby.

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There was a few years gap in reading for pleasure due to a hectic university schedule while working full-time so I only read textbooks and historical books for my major during that time.

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Upon graduating university, I gravitated towards Latin-/American works. Gabriel Garcia Marquez became my favorite author as his works Love in the Time of Cholera and One Hundred Years of Solitude are consistently in my rotation. My picks have also expanded to include self-help and consciousness books like The Power of Now.

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As a kindergarten teacher, I am more focused on becoming versed in a wide variety of books that showcase diversity. Making sure all of my students have access to resources they can connect to, that expands their knowledge, and promotes inclusivity. I regularly incorporate classic tales but often integrate works by diverse authors. My recent favorites include Carole Lindstrom, Matt de la Pena, Kwame Alexander, and Jason Chin.