Children’s Literature Autobiography
Reading as Easy as ABC: Early Memories
Reading is a journey of emotions, experiences, and memories. Growing up, I was exposed to a variety of children’s literature through my family, friends, and church. Children’s literature captured my heart at a very young age. Some of my first memories were my nightly bedtime reads. I would ask my parents or older brother to read me one of my two favorite books: Little Ducks Moving Day or Panda Bears Secret. However, after nights of reading I memorized the lines and would pretend that I could read but I was only reciting the book by memory. Having an older brother challenged me in every way, being four years younger I had to mature by four years to keep up with him. Therefore, this caused me to want to read what he was reading at four years above my reading level. This led me to continue to excel at a higher reading level throughout my education. My brother would sit there with me at night and read variety of books from comics, to bible stories, and Bernstein Bear books. Reading for me was a way for my imagination to be taken captive of and run.
Reading Building Blocks
My reading was enhanced when I entered my school years. Throughout elementary school I would have several assignments of writing my own books and the teacher would publish them. Having my books published in our schools library allowed for me to work harder and aspire to be a better writer. I then moved to Lubbock where Accelerated Reading was introduced to me. Through the AR program, I had the opportunity to read hundreds of books from 3rd till 8th grade. I would read books that were in series so that I could stay with the same characters but different story lines. Some of the series I read was Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley High and Hank the Cow Dog. The AR system took away my love for reading and forced me to learn to just read a book not for the enjoyment, but to just pass a test. I believe that in elementary and junior high literature wasn’t used to the full capacity that it deserves to be. Instead, literature was a way to read a quick book, take a test, and get an A in your class by achieving a certain point level. In high school, I read motivation books and Christian Inspirational readings outside of school. However, literature throughout high school was quite a miserable experience. Books were chosen because they were on a required list to read and we would read, take a test and learn nothing. Not until my senior year did I learn or enjoy a book. Finally, we read Tuesdays with Morrie my senior year and this was one of my favorite books. A book of inspiring life lessons was a wonderful way to teach literature.
Inspiration
My grandma has been the one person that has truly influenced my feelings toward books. She has introduced me to hundreds of books. Growing up, she always brought us brand new hard back books that were right off the printer. They were incredible children’s literature. The illustrations were always breathe taking and memorable. She taught me to see beyond the words but to read the pictures and to see what the pictures said that the book didn’t. My mom influenced my reading as well for she was the one who taught me how to read and bought the remaining of my books. She encouraged and motivated me to read a variety of books. She brought fantasy, Christian, humor, and educational books to expand and challenge my reading capacity. She taught me that through reading I would never stop learning and that reading would take me through a life’s journey. Finally, television influenced what I read. We weren’t able to watch television very often, therefore if I saw a show I liked I would go buy the books and read the books instead of watching them. I loved reading Madeline books by Ludwig Bemelmans. I saw Madeline on TV one day and after that I bought several of her books. They were about a little French orphan girl who lived with twelve other girls. A few other series that I saw and then read was the Magic School Bus, Full House books, and Ramona books.
My Favorite Bedtime Titles
This paper allowed me to crawl into my attic and get out boxes of children’s books and allowed for me to relive memories of my favorite books. I have almost a hundred favorite titles. However, I limited it down to my favorite nighttime readings or books that truly captured my heart as a child. Nathan’s Fishing Trip by Lulu Delacre was about an elephant that went out a fishing trip. Nathan went on a day trip to learn how to fish by his instructor who ironically was a mouse. The book had wonderful illustrations and a cute storyline. Snuggle Piggy and the Magic Blanket by Michele Stepto was about a pig that had a magic blanket that took him through a magical journey. I loved this book for the fact that I had a blanket that I slept with growing up. The Velveteen Rabbit was a book that my family treasured and we had three different versions of. Flavia and the Velveteen Rabbit was the original version and is quite lengthy compared to the other series. However, it took children thru an emotional roller coaster and journey of losing something you once loved. Finally, the traditional If You Give a Mouse A Cookie was a book that never got tried of. The story was about when a boy gave a mouse a cookie that then led to a day of events. This book allowed for an experience that children could imagine and relate too.
Reading a continuous journey
Reading has been a continuous journey of experience and growth throughout my life. I am now currently reading a variety of subjects and titles. I am ranging from school textbooks, to the Wall Street journal, and back reliving my children’s literature books. However, I believe that the children’s literature brings back enjoyment and leisure of reading. Children’s literature can be used to teach a variety of life and educational lessons. However, it is our job as teachers to find creative ways to adapt of lessons to incorporate children’s literature and to capture the interest and the attention of our students.
Reading as Easy as ABC: Early Memories
Reading is a journey of emotions, experiences, and memories. Growing up, I was exposed to a variety of children’s literature through my family, friends, and church. Children’s literature captured my heart at a very young age. Some of my first memories were my nightly bedtime reads. I would ask my parents or older brother to read me one of my two favorite books: Little Ducks Moving Day or Panda Bears Secret. However, after nights of reading I memorized the lines and would pretend that I could read but I was only reciting the book by memory. Having an older brother challenged me in every way, being four years younger I had to mature by four years to keep up with him. Therefore, this caused me to want to read what he was reading at four years above my reading level. This led me to continue to excel at a higher reading level throughout my education. My brother would sit there with me at night and read variety of books from comics, to bible stories, and Bernstein Bear books. Reading for me was a way for my imagination to be taken captive of and run.
Reading Building Blocks
My reading was enhanced when I entered my school years. Throughout elementary school I would have several assignments of writing my own books and the teacher would publish them. Having my books published in our schools library allowed for me to work harder and aspire to be a better writer. I then moved to Lubbock where Accelerated Reading was introduced to me. Through the AR program, I had the opportunity to read hundreds of books from 3rd till 8th grade. I would read books that were in series so that I could stay with the same characters but different story lines. Some of the series I read was Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley High and Hank the Cow Dog. The AR system took away my love for reading and forced me to learn to just read a book not for the enjoyment, but to just pass a test. I believe that in elementary and junior high literature wasn’t used to the full capacity that it deserves to be. Instead, literature was a way to read a quick book, take a test, and get an A in your class by achieving a certain point level. In high school, I read motivation books and Christian Inspirational readings outside of school. However, literature throughout high school was quite a miserable experience. Books were chosen because they were on a required list to read and we would read, take a test and learn nothing. Not until my senior year did I learn or enjoy a book. Finally, we read Tuesdays with Morrie my senior year and this was one of my favorite books. A book of inspiring life lessons was a wonderful way to teach literature.
Inspiration
My grandma has been the one person that has truly influenced my feelings toward books. She has introduced me to hundreds of books. Growing up, she always brought us brand new hard back books that were right off the printer. They were incredible children’s literature. The illustrations were always breathe taking and memorable. She taught me to see beyond the words but to read the pictures and to see what the pictures said that the book didn’t. My mom influenced my reading as well for she was the one who taught me how to read and bought the remaining of my books. She encouraged and motivated me to read a variety of books. She brought fantasy, Christian, humor, and educational books to expand and challenge my reading capacity. She taught me that through reading I would never stop learning and that reading would take me through a life’s journey. Finally, television influenced what I read. We weren’t able to watch television very often, therefore if I saw a show I liked I would go buy the books and read the books instead of watching them. I loved reading Madeline books by Ludwig Bemelmans. I saw Madeline on TV one day and after that I bought several of her books. They were about a little French orphan girl who lived with twelve other girls. A few other series that I saw and then read was the Magic School Bus, Full House books, and Ramona books.
My Favorite Bedtime Titles
This paper allowed me to crawl into my attic and get out boxes of children’s books and allowed for me to relive memories of my favorite books. I have almost a hundred favorite titles. However, I limited it down to my favorite nighttime readings or books that truly captured my heart as a child. Nathan’s Fishing Trip by Lulu Delacre was about an elephant that went out a fishing trip. Nathan went on a day trip to learn how to fish by his instructor who ironically was a mouse. The book had wonderful illustrations and a cute storyline. Snuggle Piggy and the Magic Blanket by Michele Stepto was about a pig that had a magic blanket that took him through a magical journey. I loved this book for the fact that I had a blanket that I slept with growing up. The Velveteen Rabbit was a book that my family treasured and we had three different versions of. Flavia and the Velveteen Rabbit was the original version and is quite lengthy compared to the other series. However, it took children thru an emotional roller coaster and journey of losing something you once loved. Finally, the traditional If You Give a Mouse A Cookie was a book that never got tried of. The story was about when a boy gave a mouse a cookie that then led to a day of events. This book allowed for an experience that children could imagine and relate too.
Reading a continuous journey
Reading has been a continuous journey of experience and growth throughout my life. I am now currently reading a variety of subjects and titles. I am ranging from school textbooks, to the Wall Street journal, and back reliving my children’s literature books. However, I believe that the children’s literature brings back enjoyment and leisure of reading. Children’s literature can be used to teach a variety of life and educational lessons. However, it is our job as teachers to find creative ways to adapt of lessons to incorporate children’s literature and to capture the interest and the attention of our students.
1 comment:
Courtney,
I enjoyed reading about your experiences as a youngster. It seems that many of the women in our class grew up reading the same series books. I also enjoyed the book about taking a mouse to school. There are five books and they are all hilarious!
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