What books made you a reader?
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I have been reading since before I started school. I can still remember sitting down on the couch; my parents and grandparents were preparing supper. We were at the lake house where I spent most of my summers. I grabbed for my book-of-the-moment, a look of determination straining across my face, and I began to say the words. Now, how many of the words of Tiger is a Scaredy-Cat was I simply repeating from memory, and how many was I actually reading may be a matter for some debate. But, the fact stands, that the summer before I started school, I began my reading journey. A journey that has never ended.
Tiger will always have a place in my heart, but when pushed (as I was every August when I was teaching—I’ll get to that later), I narrow my favorite, most influential, books-that-made-me-me to these five. Well, four books and a series. But I make the rules around here.
This is always the book I would bring to show my students on the first day of school. This is the book I remember the most as a child, and this is the book that I made sure to grab when my grandparents downsized. This was MY book. It’s about my birthday. It’s silly and whimsical. It meant I got to snuggle with Nana. Reading this book with my grandmother opened the door to the world of books. My Nana is a champion of reading and learning. Looking back on my childhood, much of which was spent with my grandparents, it was truly her love of reading and her desire that her grandchildren become their best that lead me to education, literacy, and statistics. All of those feelings and memories are wrapped up in this book. And it smells like Nana and Poppo’s house.
Continuing with the idea of whimsy and nonsense. I was never a fan of The Giving Tree, which as I have grown up and become a teacher, I understand is not a story about sharing, but a story about giving so much of yourself for someone else’s happiness that you no longer exist. The same can be said of the later book, Rainbow Fish, but that is beyond the scope of this post. ANYWAY. Shel Silverstein played a huge role in my life after I learned to read and into upper elementary. I would lock myself away in my room — or any other available private place — and flip through the book. Look at the pages, memorize the poems. Read them aloud to myself. I have always struggled to sleep, often singing to myself or telling myself stories. This book was in rotation for a very long time as a comfort and restful place to land when my head would not stop spinning.
I discovered Tamora Pierce through her Protector of the Small series. I was in a Walden’s in the mall with Poppo. He let me run wild in the store, well, as wild as I would get. I was drawn to the bright colors of the cover, and I think it had a gryphon on it. And a GIRL was the main character. I read that book, and was hooked. But that’s not the book (series) I’ve listed here. The Lioness Quartet, Pierce’s first series, is what really turned me into a reader. I devoured these books. I still do. I return to Pierce practically every year. Like a warm blanket and some good coffee in the fall, her writing is soothing and comforting. When life is just a little too much, when I’ve been listening to too many murder podcasts and reading too many deep or heavy books, it’s time for some Pierce. She writes about big ideas and feelings in such a way that I am able to truly digest them and, in turn, my own big ideas and feelings.
I stumbled across this series in a Sam’s Club. It’s cover was bright and friendly and colorful. And the pages were full of puns and yet more ridiculousness. It seems I don’t even take my reading that seriously. Fforde’s sense of humor in Thursday Next is perfect for book lovers, which I was quickly becoming at this point. I hadn’t yet read many of the books he references. Many puns and jokes went over my head. But the story was compelling. It had adventure and a touch of romance, time travel, alternate timelines, and The Well where books are created. Out of the seven or so books in this series, this book is my favorite. I considered myself a writer — maybe still do — and this book connected with me on a level I hadn’t experienced yet. In my first somewhat-commonplace-notebook assignment, I quoted this book several times. It talks about the process of creativity in a way that makes sense to my neurospicy brain. And it made me feel at home. Fforde is another author I turn to almost yearly. And just like Pierce, he’s got quite the library of works to choose from.
Welcome to my undergraduate years. I picked up an English major my junior year because it would mean exactly 3 more classes. No sweat. One of the classes I chose was a self-paced Brontë course. I have always loved the Brontës, preferring them over Austen in my imagined cage-match throwdown. Jane Eyre was always a favorite, but when I read Anne Brontë, both Agnes Grey — All true histories contain instruction — and Tenant, I discovered that my favorite Brontë is not the two that people think about. (I have THOUGHTS on Wuthering Heights). Tenant has all the best parts of Eyre, without the wife-locked-in-an-attic thing. Highly recommend. Obviously.
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