FIR ’10 – Reading Question #7

As part of the Fall Into Reading Challenge 2010, Callapider Days has reading questions for us to answer, if we so wish, every week. The 7th question is:
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How did you get into reading? When and how/why did you really become “a reader”?

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My answer:
I can’t really remember… I simply always read. When I first learned how to read in 1st grade, I was reading everything and anything from milk cartons and cereal boxes to our reading books from school. I always LOVED the library, it would be my ideal plan for a weekend afternoon. I remember going to browse books for hours (probably not hours, but it felt like hours to me!), and I was probably one of their best patrons. There were always library books at home.

The first series I remember reading was Anne of Green Gable, about mid-elementary. Perhaps 3rd grade. The “Easter Bunny” brought me the whole series, and I just devoured them. 🙂  It’s on my To Read list to revisit these books, as I don’t think I’ve ever re-read them since!

Until then, I had mostly only read in French. Although I was raised speaking both language, my mother tongue is French, and I was going to French school. In 4th grade, my mom thought it might be a good idea for me to read in English as well, so she brought me to the book store (another of my favourite activities – still is!!), and I chose a book from The Baby-Sitter Club series. I ended up reading the WHOLE series up until the end of 6th grade or so – I think I stopped reading them when I started high school (our “high school” is from grade 7 to 11). The series continued after that, but I wasn’t reading them anymore. I most have a hundred or so books from it… I think my mom still has them in a box!

My mom is an avid reader herself, and always had a book on the go. So I think that my influence to get into reading came from her. Very early on, we had our classic bedtime stories, and as children, we had lots of children books to read. My mom always encouraged us to read, and brought us to buy books at the store. Growing up, my birthday gifts were very often books too! So I suppose we could say my sister and I grew up with books – and we are both very avid readers today! In fact, we just went to the annual Book Show yesterday, and I couldn’t think of anyone else I would have enjoyed going there with as much 😉  (I have a few friends who enjoy reading very much as well, and it would have been nice to go with them too (they were otherwise engaged that day and couldn’t come), but with them AND my sister. My sister had to be there 🙂 )

I hope to pass on this love to my girls too!