Timeline: Taylor's Reading Autobiography by Taylor Swift

Early Childhood: First Moments with Books

taylorswift4 — 2025-09-03 15:19:42 UTC

As an infant, I was introduced to the world of books. My parents read my siblings and I simple board books like Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and a collection of Fairy Tales from a book that I still have to this day. Growing up, we had a very large collection of children's books that my siblings and I shared. Reflecting on my early years, I relied on getting read books to go to sleep. Some other books we read during this time were Dr. Seuss's books and some Golden books!

Preschool Years: Picture Books & Bedtime Stories

taylorswift4 — 2025-09-03 15:19:42 UTC

In my early toddler years, I quickly developed a love for story time with bright picture books like Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle and my personal favorite, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff. These laid the foundation for my lifelong love of reading. During this time in my life, we still read a lot of bedtime stories every single night and eventually got to a point where I started to help read these stories as well. I still have a lot of the books that we had from this time in my life that I know read to my own children. We continued to read a lot of Dr. Seuss and Golden books during this time period of my life!

Elementary School Years: Starting to Read on My Own

taylorswift4 — 2025-09-03 15:19:42 UTC

When I began kindergarten, I fell in love with the library. Going to the library quickly became my favorite part of school. To this day, I can still remember checking out a kitten book that had a cat that looked just like my cat at home and I was beyond excited. My first year of school, I liked reading books about kittens and Barbie. I can also still remember using a giant pencil to fill out the card with my name on it that was placed inside a sleeve in each book. I love writing my name on those cards because it meant I got a new book to explore! In 1st grade, I started reading independently and even taught my little sisters how to read. By the middle of my 1st grade year, I started reading Junie B. Jones books by Barbara Parks pretty religiously. I made it a personal goal to read as many of them as I could throughout my elementary years. I eventually moved on to other series like the Magic Tree House books by Mary Pope Osborne and The Babysitter Club series by Ann M. Martin. This was an exciting time for me because I fell in love with reading and picking out what I got to read on my own.

Middle School Years: My Chapter Book Era

taylorswift4 — 2025-09-03 15:19:42 UTC

Once I got into middle school, I started reading chapter books. I had always been a Harry Potter fan but in middle school I finally got to a point where I could read the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling for the first time. It was an experience I wish I could relive! After this series, my passion of reading continued to grow as I was finally at an age where I could read and understand just about any book that I could get my hands on. During this stage, some of my favorites were the Harry Potter series, Holes by Louis Sachar, Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Peterson, The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell, Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt and anything by else by Lois Lowry. I also fell in love with the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder in early middle which is what encouraged me to become a teacher! This series had a huge impact on my life! During this point in my life, I was going through a lot at home as my parents got divorced, I moved a lot and my family was going through a really tough time- reading literally saved me during this point in my life and was my escape from reality. I am so glad I had books to lean on during this period of my life.

Junior High Years: My Love of Popular Series