Literature : My Life As A Person 's Life

My relationship with literature has evolved to a much deeper appreciation. As I sit and think who and what literature is, I found myself looking at how literature speaks to me, how it moves me, how it inspires me and how it makes me question my very creative pallet. Literature is something that reflects society, makes us think of ourselves and our social interaction. It allows us to enjoy the beauty and language that it speaks to us. Many of the pieces that I encountered this semester has really touched home for me.

My earliest reading memory was when I was five with the little golden book series. I loved getting new books and reading them. But most of all I loved when my mother read to me so I could look at the pictures as my imagination went wild with stories about Jack climbing up the beanstalk or a king searching a kingdom for a worthy princess.

Literature is rolling hills and fields of daisies. It is black smoke billowing from narrow streets. It is twinkling lights and rivers of gold-- and the dark secrets hiding behind them. Literature encompasses both the hopes and dreams of humanity. It is the purest form of human existence and those who pursue it are the messengers of times past to our future selves. The quote by Amy Lowell, “All books are either dreams or swords, / You can cut, or you can drug, with words” (“Sword Blades and Poppy Seed”), exemplifies the idea that literature has a profound effect on human emotions by reflecting all aspects of the human experience.

Ever since I was in elementary school, I have had a strong fascination with literature. Overtime, I had a plethora of books lining my bookcases and barely had room for any more. Reading was a necessity to me and it still is to me today. I eat, sleep, and breath literature because I feel like it’s essential to my academic career. Literature does many wonderful things like, teach me about life lessons, transport me to a new world that I have only dreamed about going to, and discover new vocabulary.

I was not always a fan of reading though. I blame this on the type of school teachers I have in my secondary level education. It was not until I got to community college where I began an appreciation for both reading and writing. The first book that grabbed me was The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, which is Walls’ memoir that focused on the events of growing up with her family that, at times, caused her to be homeless--among other harsh situations.

Ever since I can remember, my beautiful mother, Anne, would read to me. She would set me in her lap in our big green rocking chair and read Winnie the Pooh, and Dr. Seuss but my all time favorite was Dr. Seuss's "Green Eggs & Ham". No matter where we were or who we were with, she would read that book to me. She read it so many times I'm sure she could recite it word for word. After a few hundred times of her reading it to me, I had all 62 pages memorized. I could even tell when she skipped a page, which I don't blame her, its a long book. At the time, I had no idea simply reading this book would affect my literacy. But by 3, I had 50 words memorized just from the book. As I grew, so did my love for books. I often read in my preschool with

I had a couple years during middle school where I didn’t read as much, but when I started Seventh Grade I remember reading The Mortal Instruments series, and I fell in love with it. I would stay up late at night just to finish the next Chapter. By the end of the semester, I had finished all six of them and I still love reading them even

The first book I remember reading was Go Dogs Go by P.D. Eastman. I would read that book once a day with my mother, and never get tired of it. Then other books like The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, Horton Hears a Who, and many other Dr. Seuss books came next. I couldn’t read enough of them growing up through kindergarten and first grade. Then all of a sudden I moved to Chelan and forced to read to meet my AR goal. Now, I am not trying to blame Accelerated Reader for my lack of motivation to read today, but I do believe it played a role in how I began to hate reading in elementary school.

Kindergarten and elementary school introduced Accelerated Reading, a point system that awarded children for reading books and testing well on them. The competitive nature it brought was key to my advancing as a reader through 5th grade. I was reading little series like Junie B. Jones and Magic Tree House, connecting with these simple characters and finding a certain comfort in the familiarity between each book in them. In the fourth grade, I began trying to chase the top spot in the AR rankings, Catherine. She won every year, racking up over 1,000 points. I just began pulling large books off the shelf and reading them. This was how I came across the most impressive series of my generation: Harry Potter. I read the fourth book first, because it was the biggest. It totally threw of my experience, as I read 5,6, and 7, then went back to read the first three. Rowling's ability to immerse me in a universe sparked

Throughout all of time, literature has played an important role in people’s lives. Books are more than just stories to laugh at, cry with, or fall asleep to, but books can teach. Literature

Even though my childhood consisted a fair amount in writing. I think what really made me enjoy literacy even more, was joining my school's creative writing UIL ( University Interscholastic

In elementary school, I started out by reading small books with mostly pictures and spelling. Throughout these first five years of school, I had to keep a reading log. Every Monday I would go to the library and pick out a book that was in my grade section and

It seemed that learning to read simply could not come fast enough. When we went to the library, I would read any book that they told me I could. Reading on the bus, in my room, during class, anywhere I had enough space to read and my book with me. I loved the concept of visualizing the characters in my mind and watching them interact with one another, and for that reason, the only books I usually read during this time were fiction. Whether it was realistic or not, or if the characters were male or female, I would follow the story wherever it went, and I loved to see where it would take me. Some of my first books that I read were the Series of Unfortunate Events and I found myself sympathizing with the Baudelaire children as they had to fight against Count Olaf; or I travelled through the land of Narnia with Lucy and found myself standing under the lamppost. My interest in reading had soared in elementary school, and I was free to read as I pleased.

I realized as I got older I had so many options of books to read. The different types of genres and books the world had to offer was so amazing to me. As I got a little older and the years went on, I learned that I really enjoyed chapter books. I soon came upon the set of books called “ The Magic Tree House,” by Mary Pope Osborne. Osborne created a set of books that made you think that anything was possible. This set of books definitely made an impact on my life and showed me what literacy was all

Reading has been one of my favorite hobbies since I was a little child. I grew up as a normal child should grow and eventually I had to start learning for me to fit in society. My literacy started many years ago, after I knew how to talk and communicate with people. Reading my alphabet was quite stressful and I had to be given a hand by my family members. I remember my parents reading with me and it was the most meaningful and memorable way to spend time with me. This is because I liked reading a lot and I was eager to learn so that I could fit in with my older siblings. My favorite books were storybooks taking about adventures and fairytales