Children's Literature Autobiography

When I think about reading, I think about how I used to read all the time. I would sneak a flashlight under my pillow and stay up until all hours of the night waiting to get to the end of my book. I could never wait to see what was going to happen. Yes, I admit that I went through the Sweet Valley High /Babysitter Club/ Boxcar Children phase, but two of my favorite authors were also Mary Downing Hahn and Lois Lowry. I couldn’t keep my hands off of their books! Particularly, my favorite books by these two were Stepping on the Cracks, The Anastasia series, and Sam Series. I remember in the third grade my teacher read to us All About Sam, and we couldn't get enough! I always wished that the library would carry more of their books so that I could read all of them.
One of my earliest memories of reading was when I was just learning to read, and my Granny took me to the bookstore to pick out a book as my Birthday Present. After carefully looking through many books, I remember that I chose Clifford’s Book of Jokes and Riddles. I also remember thinking while I was growing up that it was such a privilege to go to the library. My mom used to take my brothers and I to the Public Library after school and I remember being so excited! We used to spend hours there just looking at all of the books. One of my favorite books that I used to love to read with my brothers were the Little Critter books. One of our favorite Little Critter books was the Christmas book, because there was a recipe for Christmas Cookies in it.
In Elementary School, I remember one of the coolest things that we got to do was have Read-Ins. A Read-In meant that we got to come to school with our sleeping bags, some snacks, juice boxes, and a backpack full of books! We got to spend the whole day reading and sharing books with our class mates, it was a dream come true! I also remember that my school participated in a Book-It program, which meant we got to go to Pizza Hut for free pizza every time we filled up our Book-It Badge. Over the summer, our local movie theater had a similar program, where if you read a certain amount of books, you got to come watch a free movie each week. It was so great to get rewarded for doing something I already loved to do!
Growing up, my family also used to spend lazy Sunday afternoons together in the living room reading various books and newspapers. As kids, we would always fight for the comics, but we also liked to read my dad’s collection of Calvin and Hobbs comics. Reading has just been a huge part of my life, as well as my family’s, which I feel has helped to encourage my love for reading. Once I hit Middle School, I began getting into more Fantasy books, such as A Wrinkle In Time, The Giver, and The Chronicles of Narnia. Another one of my favorite books in Middle School was Bridge to Terabitha. This book was one of the first coming-of-age stories to touch me because of the strong emotions portrayed in the story. Whether it is between the wild imaginations of the two characters, or to the traumatic ending, this book tells a great story of two courageous children that the reader will always remember.
In High School, we began to read more modern literature, such as The Great Gatsby and Slaughterhouse 5. My junior year of high school I was introduced to one of my favorite books of all time, The Catcher In the Rye, by J.D. Salinger. I could not put this book down! In fact, I read it 3 more times in a row when I was done with it. A few years ago, when I found out that absolutely none of my friends had read this book, I gave it to them as a Christmas present. I just could not believe that anyone had gone through their life without being able to read it! I just loved the free thought and randomness of the book, mostly because I am an extremely random person. I also loved all of the points that the main character, Holden Caulfield, makes in the book about “phoniness.” I remember in my class, after discussing this book, that everybody either loved the book like I did, or they just couldn’t get through it. As much as I loved this book, I could see how it would be frustrating for some people to get through, especially since you can’t put your finger on a specific event that happens. Really, I think that the main point of this book is the coming of age, and character’s identity. After reading this book, it left me wondering “Is Holden Caulfield really the crazy one…or is everybody else crazy?”
As of now, I do not make much time for casual reading, due to my busy schedule. I am, however, excited about one of the current books that I just bought called, Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, and Some Other Things… which is a book of short stories by authors Lemony Snicket, Nick Hornby, Jon Scieszka (The Stinky Cheese Man), and Jonathan Safron Foer. I have started on the first two stories, which I really liked, and I am excited to finish it. I think this would be a good book for anyone to read, no matter what age, because I think with the contributions from Lemony Snicket and Jon Scieszka, even older kids would enjoy this book.
And while you will not catch me staying up until all hours of the night trying to finish a good book, I do very much still enjoy reading. Some of my favorite authors right now are Chuck Klosterman, Kurt Vonnegut, and John Irving. Most of my reading time right now is spent dedicated to homework, or to reading to the little girl Terra that I watch. I try to read to her any chance I get. In fact, when I went home for ChristmasI brought back a collection of books that I used to read (including Little Critter) so that Terra could read them as well, and she loves it! I also try to take her to the library when I can so that we can pick out more books to read. Terra really likes the David series, especially David Gets in Trouble. And come to think of it, all this talk about how important reading is for children, it makes me wonder why we don’t do away with text books and emphasize reading literature in college as well!