My Love For Reading

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.

One of my all time passions is reading. I credit my love of reading to my dad, who has spent a great portion of his life reading as well. Some of my earliest memories are of my dad reading Harry Potter to me and my siblings, though I was the only child listening. My love of reading has only grown since then. Through reading I have learned about countless worlds and thousands of stories. I have discovered myself in between the pages of many different books, and I have learned more about people and the world arund me. Of all the ways to spend time, reading may be my absolute

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.

I’ve always been an avid reader. When I was in elementary school, my mother would take my brother and I to the library every week to pick out books. I would take the books to school and read them all in one day. I loved reading so much that my teachers would call home and tell my parents that I was reading my library books during class instead of my textbooks. Reading has always been a major part of my life. I used to aspire to become an author. I even wanted to become an editor at one point. I used to make daily household newspapers and magazines for my entire family to read and enjoy. My strong love for reading certainly came in handy during my freshman year of high school.

When my mother asked me to read a book a few months ago, I was hesitant to agree. A stressful school year was approaching, and seeing my friends on a Saturday night seemed much more appealing. When I was younger, curling up with a good book was a typical pastime. Then came high school, and reading was replaced with countless hours of studying, cheer practice, and trying to figure out when I could catch up on some much needed rest.

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.

I never had a passion to read when I was younger in grade school. I never liked to read, unless it was any of the “Black Lagoon” books then you had my full attention, and if it wasn’t any of those I would not read it for anything. All I wanted was to read those books, and I am pretty sure I read almost all of them I liked them so much. I especially did not like reading when teachers would make us read at night and fill out a reading chart to go along with it and would make our parents sign it so they made sure that we really did read everyday. It was pure torture for me. I dreaded the reading. My teachers even gave us prizes and treats for reading at home and I still did not want to read. One year I did not tell my mom that I had a reading log and was required to

Moving into middle school, I expected to continue to love reading, and that was true at some points during this time. However, it was also marked with times where I loathed reading, it had become a chore. I still loved reading fiction, and my winter break in eighth grade included long readings from The Mysterious Benedict Society series; but I would struggle in attempts to really enjoy what literacy was meant to be. Reading was no longer

I chose the article “Disliking Books at an Early Age” by Gerald Graff. He is a teacher of literature and states his advantage as a teacher since he hated and feared books while growing up. Graff discovered something that provided reading to be more appealing. He engaged himself into the text where reading became fun. Growing up Graff was raised in an ethnically mixed Chicago neighborhood where he feared that if he had anything to do with books, he would get beaten up. Graff, however, would sit down and try to read novels, but he could not relate to any of the text, he would just stare blankly at the pages. Later Graff’s fear developed into flunking college. Graff then discovered a new way of reading finding a way to make reading fun. Graff put himself into the text, a sense of personal engagement.  The main point in Graff’s article is to read at an angle and keep an open mind while being patient.

In my experience, reading has more often than not, been a two-sided prospect. There are times in which I enjoy reading; however, there are also moments in which I form enmity towards it. For instance, during my sophomore and junior years of high school, Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby were assigned; these particular books left quite the positive impression. On the other hand, literature such as the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel did not seem to leave the same feeling; in some ways, Wiesel’s memoir intensified my distaste for reading.

I would like to preface this essay by stating that I am not fond of reading books. Starting in elementary school, with the way literature was handled, I began perceiving reading books as an obligation, nothing more. Few of the books we were made to read over the years interested me, so I tend not to read them out of my own volition. There were exceptions, of course – I enjoyed reading Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, for example.

Over the years, my reading hobbies have changed drastically. At a very young age reading was a passion, but over the years, it became something that I despised.

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

In elementary I was always so intrigued with reading, writing, and learning in general. At a young age I was always curious to find out what words meant on papers, tv, and magazines. On my fifth birthday just two weeks before school I got books instead of toys as a present. My mother told me that even though I didn't know how to read yet, that she knew I would enjoy it and that soon enough I would be able to read even just a little bit. I would always look at her National Geographic magazines and would ask her what it said about the pictures on them. When I finished Kindergarten that year I was able to start reading chapter books and I fell in love with “The Junie B. Jones.” I read all twenty-eight of them and continued reading other different series after. I realized that after moving to Dodge City and going into middle school, I wasn't as attentive towards reading anymore. I used to read almost all the time but as I grew older, my attitudes towards reading and writing became less of a consideration for me. I began to be

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.