What Does Reading Books Mean To Me Essay

The books we read in middle school and high school were genres not right up my alley, which made it hard to read them and connect with the books. Also, we would only have two or three weeks to finish the book, which meant we had to read 30-50 pages each night. That made it difficult to want to read for enjoyment because I was focusing on finishing the reading to make sure I knew the material for the test. The only book I do remember from high school, I enjoyed was The Outsiders by S.E

Thanks to hours and hours of bedtime stories, I was able to read from the age of 3. In kindergarten I read to my classmates, and by second grade I was reading series like The Boxcar Children and Trixie Belden. Books allowed me to get lost in other worlds full of adventure and excitement. My love for what words can do has extended through high school. I pride myself on my book collection, anything from Hunger Games to The Picture of Dorian Gray. I’ve continued to read all the way through high school, some books four or five times because I love them so much.

Think about your experiences of writing at college. Which types of assignments have you found helpful in strengthening your writing skills? Where do you want to improve your writing? What’s the most useful advice you’re received that’s helped you improve your writing. Be as specific as possible.

I strongly believe when some people grow up they lose interest in reading books, you can see the many people that don’t like reading in our schools, because most of us are on our phones and reading articles. I mainly read on my phone and I enjoy that more because the articles are short and to the point quicker. Phones have changed on how much I value actual books.

My experience with literature started when I was in the first grade. My first-grade teacher was named Ms. Young. Every Friday, all the teachers would come together to have story time and read the children a book. I would be so excited for story time because I would sit down with my best friends Ashley and Jordan, and we would listen to the teacher that was assigned to read to us. During story time, all the children would gather around in a big circle and the teacher would be in the center in a big brown rocking chair, and read. Over time in the school year, the children would read bigger and longer books like the Junie B. Jones series, chapter books, and the extreme level, which would be the Harry potter series. Sometimes I would fall asleep because the book that was read was very dull. I remember Ms. Young read to us the “Very Hungary Caterpillar”9 by Eric Carle. I loved that book as a child. It had great illustrations of the caterpillar turning into a butterfly. This book made me love reading for the rest of my life. Now in college, I love to read books. I only

In elementary school, I loved to read. Writing was not a big deal either due to the fact that we did not have to write four page essays. It was in first grade when I started to like reading. Reading has just been freshly introduced, considering we had only completed one year of school. My teacher always read to us and I wanted to read those books as well. Throughout elementary school I started to read Junie B. Jones books, which were my favorite. All of the books were about a first grade girl and her different adventures. I had always enjoyed reading those books. Each book had a different topic which I would always relate to in some way. Although I liked to read, I did struggle with reading comprehension which made me dislike writing as well. I hated having to read and then go and write about it. To this day, I still do not like reading comprehension, but my feelings toward reading and writing have changed.

Many of my teachers were unwilling to spend one-on-one time with me to allow me to understand at the correct pace, that was until last year when Sarah Wansley stepped in and really helped me to understand grammar, reading, and writing. The most recent book I read was Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, although the book was required for a school project I now consider it to be my favorite book. During the research of Alboms memoir I learned not only how to research and look at the background and continuations of some novels, but also that there are books for everyone to enjoy and get lost in no matter how many book you have read and found completely boring. I often found reading to be just that, reading, I never digested and understood the text. I would read a sentence and two seconds later I could not tell you a single word of it, because I was never digesting the words on the page to make sense. That is the main reason I did not enjoy many books assigned for school, I would only read it to answer the questions on the study guide and then a majority of the time I would fail the tests because I never took the extra time to enjoy the

Every night my mom would read me a chapter or two of a “Junie B Jones” book. I couldn't wait until I was old enough to read by myself. I enjoyed reading when I first learned how. The first series I really liked was “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”. I’ve read every single book in the series. Whenever a new book from the series would come out, i’d get it first thing the next day. I never really read that often after I finished the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series. Those books really entertained me and anything else I read from the point didn't sway me. In fourth grade, I had a really awesome teacher that was really hard on me, but I really believe she helped me the most. I don't remember everything we did, I really don’t remember most of the stuff we did. I just remember getting to 5th grade and writing was so easy for me. So was math, science, etc.

Before I began elementary school, I enjoyed reading picture books, the touch and feel books and pop-up books. I loved the author Dr. Suess, because he was funny and because I loved the rhyming he did in his writing. I can remember before bed, my mom or dad would read to me until I got old enough to read myself. My mom has always enjoyed reading, if she is not reading a book, then she is reading a recipe or a magazine. My dad on the other hand, I have only seen him read one book, besides reading manuals for his tools. Reading was not a big deal in my house, all of us kids were told that we needed to read, but they did not force us to read. This brings me to Richard Rodriguez’s essay, in his household reading was not as important, but once he got to school, he realized that reading is one of the main activities. I can relate to Rodriguez because in either one of our households we weren’t told that we had to read before we did something else. Once I got to elementary school is when I realized that reading was not for me. Before school, I enjoyed reading, then once I began elementary school, I was forced to read, take tests over books, and read out loud in front of the class which made reading a chore.

Harry Potter, Junie B. Jones, Narnia, Lemony Snicket, Hunger Games, Lord of the Rings, Goosebumps, Magic Tree House, and the Boxcar Children: Popular book series that most kids get into. I never did. Ever since school required mandatory reading, I perceived books as hassles. School effectively turned me off of reading for pleasure. Going into middle school, where students have regular book reports and summer reading, I faced a challenge. To make it by I had to learn to live with books, as they played an integral part to my career as a student. However, my current state of mind labeled reading a hassle and wanted nothing to do with it, necessitating change. Transitioning from elementary to middle school, I matured both physically and intellectually.

Reading was the new outlet for my imagination and the stories I read fascinated me. They weren’t too unlike the scripts of computer games or the own stories I came up with on my own, but books actually had the action and emotional aspects written out. And again, while my peers were reading things about growing up, things that had morals and would teach valuable lessons (I remember one book about a shoplifter who had to do community service at an animal shelter), I read real fiction: Jurassic Park, Dragonriders of Pern, Lord of the Rings… Stuff of fantasy and science-fiction that let my mind stray from reality. Stuff that kept my imagination alive while I was being forced to learn multiplication and the names of countries. Of course, my teachers encouraged me to keep reading, as long as I wasn’t doing the reading in the middle of their lectures. But it wasn’t because of their influence, however, that kept me interested in books. It was because I loved it. It put pictures into my head and made me think. So I kept reading. But even then I knew reading wasn’t enough… Yes, the stories were fascinating, but they weren’t what I wanted. Back then I wasn’t sure what I wanted, but as middle school came to a close, I found it.

Every night my mom would read me a chapter or two of a “Junie B Jones” book. I couldn't wait until I was old enough to read by myself. Reading seemed like a special power people posessed when they got older, it seemed astonishing to me. The first series I really liked was “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”. I’ve read every single book in the series, whenever the next book from the series would come out, i’d get it first thing the next day. I never really read that often after I finished the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series. Those books really entertained me and anything else I read from the point didn't sway me. In fourth grade, I had a really awesome teacher that was really hard on me, but I really believe she helped me the most. I don't remember everything

The more I was being forced to read, the less time I spent reading for enjoyment, until eventually I no longer spent any of my free time with a novel in hand. Reading became a chore; it became boring. Sometimes the simple act of being forced to do something makes you despise it. As a child, I enjoyed several different genres of novels and many different topics intrigued me, so it wasn’t necessarily what I was reading that disinterested me. One required novel I remember reading was The Outsiders in seventh grade. This was a type of book I feel I would normally enjoy because of the mystery and action; however, I couldn’t bring myself to truly become engaged in this novel. Reason being-it was a forced act, with multiple worksheets and homework to accompany the reading. Fast forward to high school when I’m reading my required lengths in an anatomy and physiology textbook. Science has always been an interest of mine; in fact, I’m now majoring in Human Physiology. Yet reading this text wasn’t something I enjoyed. Again, because it felt forced; it was not something I was doing simply out of interest. This is how I continue to feel about most of the reading I do today as a college student.

I’ve never been one to read much outside of school without being assigned to do so. After looking back at my childhood I think I finally understand why. When you’re a student in elementary school teachers want you to be interested in reading and they tell you that it will make you smarter. Their approach to this is to assign you many readings during your early school years, have your parents sign that you actually did it, and make you write book reports about what you read. I remember when I was a kid I absolutely hated some of these exercises and absolutely loved some of these as well. I distinctly remember being in kindergarten and having to read a book to a high school student. The five year old version of me was more than embarrassed when my reading skills were not up to par and I was having to do it in front of a teenage boy. I also remember being in fifth grade and having to read one book every two weeks and write and draw a report on it. I loved this. Probably because for once I got to choose my own books and they were never assigned for me. I thought of it as a

As a child, my interests were more focused on reading than writing. In elementary school I fell in love with books. Initially I read simple children’s books, much like everybody else in my class, but it did not take long for my passion to drive me to read more difficult writings. Fiction books quickly became a replacement for any childhood toys. Instead of blocks or stuffed animals I would ask my parents for books. Since they were aimed at young readers, they tended to be short. I found myself going through them within days, and then soon several hours. Towards the end of elementary school I was reading series like Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. I was captivated, and reading truly opened up a whole new world for me.