Reading Admissions Essay

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.

Some of the books as a young man I recall reading were: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, Black Boy, by Richard Wright, 1984, by George Orwell, Hiroshima, by John Hersey, Yes I Can, by Sammy Davis Jr. and Ball Four, by Jim Bouton just to name a few. The aforementioned books run the gamut of some of my interests, as some were required reading related to school assignments, but others were for enjoyment in areas that I participated in or had a keen interest in learning more about the subject matter or person. Books, with the content within them, can take a reader to places around the world, invigorate a person’s imagination, can be inspirational, and is the entrance into greater educational opportunities that open up avenues for personal and societal

Since 2013 when I started college, I have found a new hidden love. I love reading! I love how I’m able to pick up a book and just get lost in the reading. For that moment I don’t have a care in the world other than the material at hand. In my house I am constantly encouraging my children to read or be read to for at least thirty minutes a day. I would love them to experience a wide variety of genres, even if they sometimes disagree with a selection. Actually a majority of the time they end up enjoying the

When people read teen fiction, I liked to read older, more classical books like “Romeo and Juliet” or “Cyrano de Bergerac.” These types of books have always been my refuge, the place to go to when I feel forlorn, and one of the only activities I feel comfortable in. when I read I picture myself in their position with an exciting, interesting, and adventurous life to distract me from my worries. When they started to get smartphones to take selfies, my priority was to get a polaroid camera. Sometimes I took my camera to school and the kids characterized me like characters in books do. The people I read about had inspired me to show who I truly am and who i wanted to become. Literature can help many people become courageous in life. They give role models, persons to admire that can change the perspective someone has of

My love of reading blossomed when I was a child, because my parents showed me how wonderful reading is. There were countless nights when I remember myself as a little girl refusing to go to sleep before ‘tucking dad into bed’ by reading him a picture book. Not only did I uphold that tradition though, but my mother is a preschool teacher, so she gets really into reading out loud, and she would help me read books such as The Boxcar Children set, The Secret of NIMH and The Chronicles of Narnia weekly until I didn’t need help anymore.

She does not understand why the older and well-known authors are not being read in high school. Prose uses a personal experience from her son’s sophomore English class. He had to read a “weeper and former bestseller by Judith Guest” (424), about a dysfunctional family dealing with a teenage son’s suicide attempt. “No instructor has ever asked my sons to read Alice Munro, who writes so lucidly and beautifully about the hypersensitivity that makes adolescence a hell,”(424). She again mentions books she approves of that should be read in English classes.

In her speech, and the article, titled “The Case for Good Taste in Children’s Books,” Meghan Cox Gurdon addresses the controversy on Young Adult Literature. Throughout her speech at Hillsdale College she labels this current category of fiction as gaudy, inappropriate, and sacrilegious. Gurdon’s claim on the content of YA, for Young Adult, books obtains effectiveness through her ability to incorporate real world examples, the claim made by the opposing view, and a moral push.

When I was younger, the amount of obligations upon me fewer and less likely to affect life in the long term, it was far easier to pursue my passion for fiction. School consumed less time, and the classes were introductions to various principles rather than in depth study. The books contained within the library of my elementary school weren’t great works of literature either. They were simple stories, with simple characters and events, but I loved them anyways. These simple things made sense, a comfort blanket that I simply had to reach into a basket on a shelf to find. When library time rolled around every week, I always managed to find three or four new ones to take home, and then read them all within a day or two. I had never been a particularly athletic child; I had the time and the will to devour as many stories as I possibly could.

As a young, teenage girl my reading choices did not extend beyond romance novels by young adult authors. The assigned books or excerpts from my English classes did not interest me in the slightest or ignite any curiosity to move past that specific genre. However, when deciding to take a keener, more serious approach in writing, I became interested in expanded my knowledge in the literary world. Since my biggest source of inspiration is from Turner, the idea to venture out to observe what he read, and who he drew inspiration from came about. Luckily through various internet sources my questions and curiosity on the subject got answered. Through him came my introductions to Tom Wolfe, Scott Walker, and my personal favorite, John Cooper Clarke. Now the days of solely reading uninspiring works were lessening and a whole new world had been opened up to me. Poetry, genres that weren’t about love, and teens figuring out their lives piqued my interest more than before. Through those authors it gave me the chance to, not only expand my horizons, but get a better understanding in how Turner approached his own writing as you could clearly see a hint of similarities there. Without those suggestions, there is no doubt in my mind that I would not be as well read, or fully open to different literary genres as I am

My passion for reading began the summer before junior high, the English class I would be taking had a required summer reading list. I had no desire to read “boring books” over the summer and summarize them. Fortunately, my parents made me read the first book and I was hooked. Consequently, I became obsessed (in a positive way) with this unbelievable adventure; “The Hatchet” by Gary Paulsen; transported me to the wilderness that summer and sparked my love for reading. From that moment on reading became my favorite pastime. Literature expanded my world beyond the Rio Grande Valley I visited the “Island of the Blue Dolphins”, and decided I needed dogs with “Where the Red Fern Grows”. I have several beloved books that I never get tired of reading,

1. There are numerous reasons about why Miss Narwin’s opinion of reading books differs from Philip’s opinion. The first reason is that Miss Narwin is a mature adult, who can understand literature better than children. Miss Narwin also has a love for classic literature, which not everyone shares. The second reason is that Philip would enjoy books that were written when he was growing up; it would be easier to understand and relate to for him. I concur with Miss Narwin’s point of view, as I love to read and some older books have a deeper meaning to them. I also agree with Miss Narwin, for I believe that more classic literature should be spread, so that classics won’t be forgotten. Philip’s attitude might be considered a self-fulfilling prophecy since most children would not have such a deep love towards classic literature. Children also appreciate books that they can understand and relate to.

I viewed reading as a chore, was often unenthused, and would mostly annotate on the overarching themes without gathering any meaning from them. Books were merely a series of words printed on paper. This school year, however, I began to understand the allure reading has to offer. I have grown to appreciate reading and the insights a book can offer. When reading our numerous texts, I was able to live vicariously through the characters of the books and relate aspects of their lives to my own. Because all of the books from English I pertain to coming of age, I was able to not only learn about maturation as a process, but understand how it pertains to my own life. Through protagonists such as Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye or Esperanza from The House on Mango Street, I learned about my “misguided desire to preserve childhood innocence” and to empower feminism similar to Holden and Esperanza respectively (Heart of Gold, Raghuram). Gradually, I have finally developed the ability to relate to novels and its characters amidst writing my own story.Whether it be thematic elements or the details of a case I am working on, I have become more observant to even the most trivial details. Now when I read, I not only look at the themes, motifs, and symbols, but also repeated phrases or situations that parallel each others as well as the symbolic meaning behind some ambiguous phrases or scenes. Reading now, in contrast to last summer, is a

Each of the concepts in the article, “Books for Young Readers” addresses the goal of student interest and engagement in reading. The section, “Ways of Reading” talks about balancing the personal and pedagogical responses to reading, which is not easy to achieve. Laura Jimenez and Kristin Mcilhagga are refreshingly open and honest in discussing their lesson on children’s historical fiction where they used the graphic novel, Storm in the Barn, by Matt Phelan. The book served their pedagogical objectives, but neither Lisa nor Kristin liked the book themselves and their students noticed. When asked if they liked the book, they had to admit that they did not. Educators must put themselves in their students’ position when seeking interesting and

At this point in my life, reading would definitely not make a list of my favorite things to do, but this wasn’t always the case. Some of my youngest memories involve reading, and many of these memories are enjoyable. Every night before bed my mom would read to me, and I remember begging to read just one more before she tucked me in almost every night. This is when my love for reading sparked. Throughout grade school, I continued to read frequently and never found it to be a chore; however, once middle school hit I no longer included reading as a past time or found it pleasurable. Looking back now I realize this was when English class included more forced literature, and school consisted of reading extensive pages in textbooks. Reading

From an early age I loved to read. At just two years old I would beg my mother to enroll me into school. I watched as my older sister meticulously picked out her outfit each night in preparation for the next school day. At such a young age I somehow knew that this thing called “school” was the answer to something spectacular. My home was chaotic and reading became an escape and helped distract me from the unpleasant family dynamic.