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My earliest reading memory is probably sitting with my parents at bedtime while they read to me. We would read a new book every night, and I was always very eager to read more and more; sometimes I would beg and beg them to read just one more book before I went to sleep. My older siblings would also read to me sometimes, and seeing what they read always made me eager to learn to read, too.

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When I was in preschool, we had "reading circles" where small groups of children in my class would sit together, each with their own picture book. We all took turns reading one page aloud each. I was obsessed with reading. I had a lot of help from my older siblings, who were in elementary school and eager to teach me more. My parents also encouraged me to read. I always saw them sitting on their computers, typing in documents for work, so pretty soon I began to ask them if I could type, too. They would open a Word doc for me, and I'd sit there at the family computer typing out all the words I knew how to spell.

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Article: "Reading Aloud to Young Children Has Benefits for Behavior and Attention." (NY Times)

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Article: "Reading Aloud to Young Children Has Benefits for Behavior and Attention." (NY Times)

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Reading Aloud to Young Children Has Benefits for Behavior and Attention (Published 2018)

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Reading aloud and playing imaginative games may help children deal with emotions like anger and sadness, researchers say.

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Being the youngest sibling, I didn't want to read picture books because my older siblings were already reading chapter books. I began to (attempt) to read their "big" chapter books as soon as I entered kindergarten. My favorite books were from The Magic Tree House series and the Little House series. I had a bad habit of reading books out of order, which made things confusing, but eventually I got the hang of it. I loved any book concerning the past, which has remained a steady theme in my life.

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Excerpt: The Magic Treehouse - The Knight at Dawn

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Excerpt: The Magic Treehouse - The Knight at Dawn

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"People in bright clothes and funny hats strolled among the crowd. Some played oddly shaped guitars. Some juggled balls in the air. Some balanced swords on their hands."

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"She thought to herself, 'This is now.' She was glad that the cozy house, and Pa and Ma and the firelight and the music, were now. They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now. It can never be a long time ago."

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When I was about 7 or 8 years old, I was rummaging around in my basement, where we have huge bookshelves that contain all of the books my older siblings read and then outgrew before me. It was there that I found a book called "Elizabeth I and Her Conquests" that detailed the life of Elizabeth I of England. I'm not sure why, but I became obsessed with Elizabeth I and Tudor England after reading that book. After that point, I checked out every European history book I could find from my elementary school's library. I was especially fascinated by historical queens like Marie Antoinette, Mary Tudor, and Henry VIII's wives. I was inspired by their strength and intelligence. I also loved Greek mythology!

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"Her study of true religion and learning is most eager. Her mind has no womanly weakness. Her perseverance is equal to that of a man and her memory long keeps what it quickly picks up."

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My older sister, Sarah, was my best friend growing up, and I always copied her reading choices. She was a big fan of fantasy novels with lots of action, and even though I wasn't usually into that, seeing her read those books made me want to read them too. Because of her, I began to read more books about magic, the paranormal, and made-up worlds, genres I still enjoy today. When she took AP Lit in high school, I bravely tried to read the same books as her. We still talk about books a lot together to this day.

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As I entered middle school, I began to diversify my reading choices, exploring more modern and nonfiction genres. I did this in part out of curiosity and in part because I wanted to become more well-rounded. I began to read lots of books about women's experiences, often set in contemporary spaces with tough subject matter. Some of my favorites were "Ball" by Tara Ison and "Goodnight Beautiful Women" by Anna Noyes. These were collections of short stories, and even though I first read them in middle school, I still like to flip through their pages every so often.

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"Joshua trees, he said. This is the only place in the world they live. And they live hundreds of years. The Mormons called them that. They drove out in their wagons to California and suddenly they saw all of these and said they looked like Joshua, his arms up, welcoming them to the Promised Land."

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"She's still and silent under her blanket. She listens to her breathing slow. 'He's back,' she says, her words softened, dream-speak."

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When my schedule got really busy during high school, I couldn't find the time to read as much as I did when I was younger. Because I had more on my plate and less time to read for pleasure, I began to be more selective about what books I read. I sought out books that carried powerful messages and deeper meaning. Some of my favorite books that I've read throughout high school are Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood and The Secret History by Donna Tartt. These books were big and challenging, but left me with thought-provoking questions about the world.

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"But there is also another voice; a small, mean voice, ancient and smug, that comes from somewhere deep inside my head: It serves her right."

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Excerpt: The Secret History by Donna Tartt

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Excerpt: The Secret History by Donna Tartt

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“Does such a thing as 'the fatal flaw,' that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn't. Now I think it does. And I think that mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs.”

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In the future, I want to diversify my reading even more to include genres that I haven't typically explored. These include science fiction, nonfiction, biographies, and commentary. I also want to make my reading more consistent each day and work on not getting distracted by things going on in my life while I read. I am hoping to get into the Directed Studies program at college, which is a special set of reading seminars that exposes students to the majority of the Western Canon in literature.

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My favorite thing about reading is being transported through time. You can live someone else's life by reading their words, feeling their emotions, and imagining their world in your head. I like that, in books, years can go by in mere minutes, and you can experience the full range of human emotions in a way that would have previously been unavailable to you. The idea of diving into the past has always appealed to me, and reading is the best way to do that.

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My biggest challenge in reading is the way I read. When I was a kid, with few worries or responsibilities, I could spend hours wrapped up in a book, completely losing track of time, not even aware of my surroundings. Now, as an adult, I have so many real worries going through my head all the time that I often find it difficult to get completely engrossed in a book. I'll get distracted thinking about something I have to do, lose my place, and get frustrated with myself. Especially going into college, I feel so much pressure to be "intellectual" and read the classics or books from the canon. These expectations I have for myself are something I need to work on in the future.

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Feel free to comment here!

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I loved looking through your reading history timeline! Great aesthetic- love the background! And it was interesting to read about your growth. - Cayla