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The glorious day I was brought into this world! I obviously do not remember my parents and grandparents reading to me when I was a baby, but I have been told that I loved to be read to and was always dragging a book around, wanting someone to read to me. I had many board books that I used for more than just teething from what I understand! And as studies have shown, the sooner and more you read to your children, the bigger their vocabulary and better their literacy skills later in life (Denworth, 2017). I must have been read to often because my reading ability has always been above level.

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Oh the days of being a toddler and preschooler! Yes sir, those were the days! This is where I do remember some reading experiences with my grandma and mom. I always loved visiting my grandparent's house because I clearly remember one book they had called "Gerald McBoing-Boing". I wanted that book read so much that I recall Mom and Grandma both going crazy because they read it over and over and over and over, and it was the silliest book ever! They quickly began to hate it! But they fought back their disgust and always read it to me...although they did try to convince me to listen to them read something else! LOL! I remember always following along as they read any story because I was curious about the words and wanted to know which word said what. My mom and grandma would always make sure that I could see the book, usually sitting right beside me and holding the book across our laps together. These memories are very valuable to me, and I have carried them on with my own children. Another valuable tradition that I have carried on with my children that my parents did with me was read to me almost every night before bed time. Such a perfect way to wind down from the day and relax, all while growing knowledge and vocabulary. It has been studied that reading before bed can reduce stress levels by 68% (Curtis, 2021), probably another reason I had such a happy childhood!

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These were some of my favorite years. I clearly remember the librarian was an older gray haired lady...no stereotype intended, I promise! One activity that I will forever remember was when she cut out a linked chain of gingerbread men during Christmas time. My first thought was holy cow shes a magician! To this day, I still cannot make chain shapes of any kind! LOL! My favorite part of the week was when we went once a week to the library to check out books. We were allowed 1, unlike today where my kids are allowed to check out 4! I wish I could have checked out 4! I would have definitely been in heaven! But I would spend so much time trying to find the perfect book and then couldn't wait to read it. The book was usually read before I even made it home that afternoon! I also remember being one of the few kids who enjoyed and wanted to read that basal reader for homework! It wouldn't take me but a few short minutes to read what we were required for the night, Mom would come home and check to see if I finished all my homework, and she always knew that the basal was for sure a done deal! She would ask me questions just making sure that I had completed my assigned reading, and having me retell the story. Again, it's no wonder that I had such a love for reading and also did it well. I had a strong support system backing me up.

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Well, this is where my love of reading, unfortunately, began to steadily decrease. We never went to the library much, with maybe the exception of finding a book to do a report on, or trying to find some citations for research. We never went during a scheduled class time, no lessons were ever performed by the librarian...I honestly cannot even remember what the library looked like and what I ever did in there, if I did anything at all. I THINK I may have visited the library twice, maybe three times the entire time in secondary, and one of those times was to try on my letterman jacket! In English classes, we were forced to read certain things and the majority of them I did not enjoy and many did not make any sense to me. I would have loved to read Shakespeare, but we read books like "Brave New World", where Earth and its inhabiters  were split into groups and given a certain color. One day we were put into these color groups and had to wear a shirt the color assigned to us, and act as though we were playing out the book. Certain colors couldn't talk to certain others, etc. That's about all I remember and it felt dumb at the time! Now I do remember reading "Of Mice and Men", and I read that book in two nights I loved it so much! That is really the only good part of reading I remember from my secondary school years. Which is really sad because I see the same happening to my own personal children, and the children I have taught as they grow older. I don't know if it is the forcing that makes us dislike the reading, or if it is the books themselves that are not of decent quality that I enjoy and are interested in. A book has to capture me from the moment I open the book, within the first page. If not, it goes back on the shelf! My mindset of reading changed completely negative during these years, and now I regret that.

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So despite the fact I despised reading, I decided I wanted to become an elementary teacher! And what to elementary teachers do...we read ALL the time to our kids! LOL! How ironic that I teach reading, but hate to read! Honestly though, I LOVE reading children's books. I guess this relates back to the times that I enjoyed reading with my mom and grandparents. The Very Hungry Caterpillar will forever be my favorite children's book. I remember checking it out of the elementary library ALL the time when I was in elementary school, and then once I was into my student teaching and told the kids about it being my favorite, they surprised me with my own copy and they all signed it! To this day, I still have that book!

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After my first 10 years of teaching first grade and moving to third grade, I realized I needed to get back to reading on MY level, find the love again. I needed to set a good example during DEAR time with my students. I started with the Twilight series. I enjoyed the movies and kept hearing that the books were so much better.  Boy did I get engrossed in those books! As I finished one, I couldn't hardly wait to go and buy the next one! I became intrigued with the whole fact that the book is always better philosophy. So I decided to continue on this journey. My next read was Gone with the Wind. This is my favorite movie of all time, so I figured this would be another decent choice to roll with. Ding ding ding....I was right again! The book had so much more and many different scenarios than in the movie, things I even wondered about while watching the movie were explained in the book! I have actually read it twice now! Being geared in the civil war theme, I then chose to read North and South Series. These were amazing as well, and again, I had already watched the mini series, so I could compare them. My students were so impressed that I was reading such big, thick books! Their smiles intrigued me! They were like "Wow, how can you read that much???". I told them that the more they read, the stronger reader they would become, and they too one day will read books such as this. Reading with the kids was such an encouraging experience for them, as well as myself. I then moved on to some suggested reads by some friends and got hooked on...wait for it...50 Shades! What can I say, I am a divorced woman looking for some fun! And these were FUN to say the least! LOL! I did not, however, read these during DEAR time at school in front of the kids! LOL

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And now here I am, pursuing my masters in Library Science so that I can be the school librarian! Who would have ever thought that the girl who hated to read in high school would grow old and want to become a librarian?! But the more and more I worked with my librarian at school, the more I realized that this was the goal for me. I love seeing kids eyes light up and talk with me when they find that perfect book that they love. So much is forced on them now now that is unnecessary, so to see them find a passion for a particular book is such an overwhelming feeling. The more I further my MLS, the more I fall in love. I am so thankful I had people to guide me and steer me away from that hate of reading and drive me to the love I have now found. Every day I become more and more excited to learn new ways to show children how to find that passion and that love for books.