Children's Literature Autobiography

Ever since I was old enough to form a memory, books have been a tremendous part of my life. There is nothing about a book I do not like. When I’m feeling upset or depressed I read my Bible or a romantic novel. Both lift me up and give me hope! When I feel I need a distraction I read a mystery novel. The twists always keep me engaged, and I always have a hard time putting one down. My goal is to better explain how I got into books so that one might fully understand why I am such a “nerd” when it comes to reading!
There are several people who influenced my feelings towards books and all of them are in my family; my dad, my mom, Gram, and my younger brother. My parents and my brother always read. Every free minute they get they have their heads buried in a book. The funny thing about this is they are not nerdy at all. Just looking at them, meeting them, and getting to know them you would not expect them to be such constant readers, but they are. I know that is stereotypical of me to say this, but let’s face it: people still think that book readers are nerdy no matter what their age! So, since my whole family reads so much the TV is basically never on, and so what else is one to do besides join in on the fun and read, read, read!
My Gram has influenced me because she loved to read, even more so than my immediate family, and once her arthritis got to the point where she couldn’t even hold a book, I read to her which I loved doing because it was one of the few ways I could actually show her my appreciation for all she did for me. As of April of last year she has no longer been with my family and me, but she continues to inspire me every time I read to someone. It is something I will cherish for the rest of my life, even when I read to my own kids someday. I am sure my kids will grow tired of hearing about their mother reading to their great-grandmother when her hands hurt too much to even keep a book on her lap.
Some of my earliest memories of starting to read books are of my dad on the couch in our living room in Baton Rouge. I remember sitting on my dad’s lap or right next to him while he read me a Children’s Bible. I remember my favorite stories were of Adam and Eve, Noah and the Ark, and Jesus’ birth. I also have a very vivid memory of my dad reading the Bernstein Bear books to me. They are still by far my favorite children’s books. My dad read to me every night (I think) before bed until I could read on my own. Then I read in my bed right before I went to sleep. Some of my favorites were the Babysitter’s Little Sister books (I think I read every single one…) in elementary school; the Fear Street novels kept me up into the wee hours of the morning one summer when I was 11 or 12; the Judy Blume books; and then in high school I started reading the Harry Potter books, but unfortunately it took me a very long time to read them since other books got in my way for assignments. I loved the books I had to read for class in high school. Let’s see, there were The Great Gatsby and To Kill a Mocking Bird of course, and there were two I read for English my senior year that who’s titles I cannot remember for the life of me, but they were very interesting nonetheless. I was also in a book club during my last two years in high school. I remember a lot of books, but none of the titles. I know I am pathetic for not remembering! I thoroughly enjoyed reading every single one of them though. Something I enjoyed even more was having a diverse group of people to share the books with. Once a month the club got together to discuss the books we read. It was so much fun to share my own thoughts and experiences on what I thought of the books, and it was always interesting to hear how everyone else interpreted the book. It is a great way to bond with people you would not normally think you could bond with. The book club was a special group to me, and it was in a way very therapeutic to be a member during my adolescent years. I am so excited to use this experience in my own classroom someday. I want to be able to connect with my students through different books. I feel they will trust me and feel very comfortable coming to me for anything if I discuss books they love with them and help them relate books to their own life experiences.
In the last couple of years, I have read all the Nicholas Sparks books, most of the Nelson Demille books, all the Harry Potter books, most of the Nora Roberts books, and I am currently in love with the books by a Christian author named Karen Kingsbury, which I owe to my good friend Melissa who just raved about her books to me. I have thoroughly enjoyed every single book I have read, and I have to say though, however, that my favorite book I’ve read probably ever is It’s Not About the Bike, My Journey Back to Life by Lance Armstrong. Whoever has not heard of him, well then they are so far out of the loop they need to be kicked off the planet! No, I’m kidding. But really, Armstrong’s story on cancer survival is by far one of the most touching and inspirational stories I have ever read in my life. His story has taught me several things about complaining and pain. Besides those books and authors just mentioned, my dad is trying to get me to read more history books, a category I have not had much interest in over the years. We’ll see if I ever do get into them. I’ll blog about it if I ever happen to actually get through a history book! Who knows, maybe once I actually give it a shot I’ll enjoy it!