-
Welcome!
Although I can't personally remember this time in my life, I know there were books around. Those ever recognizable Golden Books are visible in the backgrounds of some of my earliest photos. -
Period: to
Katie's Literacy Story
This is my life as seen through the books I've known. I have a strong memory of many books I've read and can associate them with what was happening in my life at the time. -
Panda Cake by Rosalie Sandler
This was my first favorite book. My mother read it to me so often that she still has it memorized! Pandas are my favorite animal and it is very likely because of this book. -
Uncle Wiggily's Storybook by
My great-grandmother gave me this book for Christmas. I would listen to tales of Uncle Wiggily many times over the years. Each story teaches an important lesson and ends with an amusing saying, making this a favorite for both kids and adults. -
Horton Hears A Who by Dr. Seuss
This was my first Dr. Seuss book. I loved picture books and this was certainly a favorite of mine along with Horton Hatches the Egg. -
Oh, Say Can You Say by Dr. Seuss
This was one of the books I loved to have my mom read to me before bed. The ryhmes in this are so difficult that it is probably impossible to read through without stumbling at least once, making this one of the funniest read-alouds ever. -
Moses the Kitten by James Herriot
My first favorite TV show was All Creatures Great and Small. Not many three year olds can say that a British veterinarian drama was the ‘bestest show ever’. Imagine my delight when my mom gave me a book about Mr. Herriot! -
Second Grade Journal
In September we began a 2nd grade journal. This was one of my first experiences with free writing. I still have my journal and it is filled with some of the silliest things I've ever written! -
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
My mother had read chapter books to me before, but this was the first big book I had ever read for myself. It remains my favorite Little House book to this day. -
The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
It was part-way into my second grade year when Mrs. Richards introduced me to the mystery genre. She read the class the first book in the series and I was hooked! Over the years I collected more than twenty of the books, but sadly I gave all but a handful away. -
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
One look at the cover of this book and I was sold. This was a book I picked out for myself. I found the humor to be wonderfully amusing but I couldn't get most of my friends into it. The only way I could truly describe it would be to call it a novel length Seuss book. -
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
This was summer reading before 4th grade and I put it off because I had already seen the movies several times and I am by no means a dog person. But then I started it and read it obsessively to the end. I even cried, something that had failed to occur while watching the movie. -
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith
This was my brother's favorite book for a long time. My mother also used terrific voices when she read, making this a fun bedtime story. It also made 'dead as a doornail' a favorite phrase of my brother and I. -
The Road of Dreams by Bruce Janek
The author lives near my hometown and came to school to show a slideshow presentation. This was also my first time meeting an author and I was a bit star-struck. My mom got his book for me and even got it signed! Three dreams were born that day: to travel the world, to become a published author, and to become a published photographer. -
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
My aunt gave me this book on tape as something to listen to on a long car ride. My entire family became caught up in the story, although I was the only one to actually ever read the books. -
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
While adults were still debating the election results I was discovering Maniac Magee's world. This book introduced me to a new reading technique: just one more chapter. It was the first book I ever stayed up late reading and I haven't looked back! -
Lent Poem
In fifth grade my teacher eencouraged me to really think about entering a poem into our school talent show. On Mardi Gras I presented a poem about Lent, this poem went on to be published and I was even invited to the bishop's luncheon. -
Zink by Cherie Bennet
I read this book when I was the same age as the protagonist. I'm not entirely sure why I decided to read this book, but it really resonated with me because of the struggles I had faced my 6th grade year. Becky's fight for survival gave me the courage to keep going. -
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by. C.S. Lewis
I discovered The Chronicles of Narnia on a shelf in my grandmother's basement. The first book was all it took to get me hooked. -
Miss Nelson Is Missing by Harry Allard and James Marshall
This was one of my brother’s favorite books when he was little. When we spent several months at my grandmother’s house cleaning, this was the book he picked to have read every night. -
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
When I found these books in my grandmother’s basement I was thrilled. To my delight I discovered that the show had changed very little about the stories; it was like revisiting old friends and places. -
Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Sixth grade was a hard time for me and is when I began to really lose myself in works of fantasy. I was so engrossed in this book that I did not notice when my class left and went to our next room. It wasn’t until the teacher came back to the room fifteen minutes later that I realized what had happened. -
Dragon Dreams
The summer after my 6th grade year I started to write a story about a dystopian future, an interesting choice since I have only ever read a handful of dystopic works. Once school started I set of writing it, someday I may return. -
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
We read this book in seventh grade, to some it probably doesn’t seem like a scholarly choice but it got the class reading and talking. It also primed us for the far more scholarly To Kill a Mockingbird. -
Redwall by Brian Jacques
In seventh grade we had to read and report on a certain number of books. I wanted to read this book but my teacher told me that I needed to look for something more appropriate for my reading level and told me to try Watership Down. I hated it so much that a few days before our project was due I switched and read Redwall anyway. It was amazing and the cartoon based off the series is something I continue to enjoy with my brother. -
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
I'm often surprised when people tell me that they weren't assigned this book in school until their junior year. My class absolutly adored it in seventh grade, we even had a mock trial based on the evidence presented in the book. Atticus won the trial in our version though, I was on the prosecution and lost. -
Pancakes
In 7th grade I did my first piece of creative writing for a contest. Pancakes, the story of a girl and her deer, did not win. I don't really care for it much either, but my dad loves it, he mentions it to this day. -
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
My mom took me to the midnight release party for this book. Sadly the little bookstore we went to is closed now, as is the Denny’s that my mom had taken my brother and I too for a late night book dinner. -
Holes by Louis Sachar
This was a book I simply could not put down. Have you ever tried to set up camp while reading? I can tell you from experience that it will likely end poorly. Stanley was a character that I could relate to, he was unpopular and his family was not picture perfect. -
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
I watched the movie with my parents first, it was a wonderful film and I stayed up much later than was generally allowed. However when I read the book I absolutely fell in love! The movie disappoints me now. -
My Antonia by Willa Cather
Sometimes we simply don't like books. The book that I have despised more than any other was certainly My Antonia, perhaps because we spent so long on it. -
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
My 8th grade was full of lousy literature including my least favorite book of all time: My Antonia by Willa Cather. But somehow this little gem snuck in. Every time the teacher assigned more chapters I just went ahead and reread the book. It was shocking when I discovered that so many people hate what I consider to be an amazing story. -
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
The first Shakespeare work we read in high school. This was the book that taught me to love Shakespeare, and still my favorite of his plays. -
The Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl
My family loves Roald Dahl and this is one of our favorite books by him. We first listened to this on tape on our way to Yellowstone National Park on one of the best vacations ever. -
The Burning by Kathryn Lasky
This is the book I was reading when my mom gave me the phone to talk with my great-grandmother one last time. She died the next day, just three days after her 94th birthday. -
Escape From Warsaw by Ian Serraillier
I loved this book a little too much! I read it in one sitting, unfortunately that sitting was a school night. I stayed up until four in the morning reading, making school the next day a little miserable. -
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
I had just begun this book when we got word that my grandmother had died. I finished it the day after Christmas, on the drive to her funeral. To this day I have all the books but haven't been able to read any more of them. -
Left to Tell by Imaculee Ilibagiza
My godmother gave me this book for Christmas. I finished it before New Year's Day; even my mother, someone who never reads, picked up this book. I've since had the oppurtunity to meet the author on a couple seperate occassions. -
The Freedom Writers Diary by The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell
I saw the movie in theatres with a bunch of my friends. Right after, I reserved the book at the library. It is an amazing story about how one class overcame everything in order to succeed. -
Year of the Hangman by Gary Blackwood
I love the American Revolution and this book played off that love. However this is an alternative history work and it was unlike anything I'd ever read. I zipped through this work and went onto find Blackwood's other works. -
Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
I found this book tucked into the back corner of a little used bookshelf in my Junior English teacher's classroom. I had glanced at the shelves before but never seen anything of much interest. It only took me one day to devour this book, reading as I hadn't read in quite some time. -
Animal Farm by George Orwell
I read this during some down time I had at Girls State. It was my first George Orwell book and one of the first books that I enjoyed without actually liking it. It is a horrifying tale, but thought-provoking and well-written. -
Perelandra by C.S. Lewis
The biggest surprise for Christmas that year was certainly recieving the entire Space Trilogy for Christmas! My family had searched for them online and brought the three books together from across the country. Perelandra is still my favorite book. -
Beowulf
The best book we read my senior year by far, this was a rollicking adventure that I really enjoyed. I painted a board game as one of my assignments this unit that remains one of my favorite school projects. -
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
I read this book on one of my snow days. An island adventure during one of the worst blizzard years I can remember was a great getaway. Though the book was sometimes sad I found it to be an inspirational story overall. -
Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
This is the funniest book I have ever read. It is part of a series but I never got around to reading any of the other books. I don’t even remember why I picked up this book but I am very glad I did simply for the great laughs and different environment it presented. -
The Chronicles of JERN
Shortly after high school I began writing a short story. That story grew and grew until today it is almost 40,000 words long and still not complete! I write very slow, so who knows if the end of the story will ever see the light of day. -
Voyage of the Basset by James Christensen
A really exciting picture book that I didn't discover until after high school. The beautiful message here is that "Believing is seeing." -
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
I read through the first two books in this series very quickly. I had discovered them while randomly browsing the library but was delighted to have come across them. I was disappointed to finish them as quickly as I did because I had such a desire to remain with the characters. I felt like they were reflections of myself that no one really noticed. -
Marley and Me by John Grogan
I have always been a cat person so I don't know what posessed me to pick up this book. However I enjoyed the stories about Marley and it made my family's own menagerie seem much more manageable. -
Here, There Be Dragons by James Owen
This is the first book in the series The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica. This series is one of my favorites because of the numerous references it makes to famous literature. There are several jokes that would only be understood by someone well versed in literature and history. -
The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordian
I started this wonderful series during my freshman year. It is always important for me to read what’s hot in middle grade literature and I found this series to be highly enjoyable. It has a great mythological base that can introduce students to classical Greek mythology. -
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
comparisonI remember reading one chapter of this book in sixth grade. However when I read the entire book in college I not only found myself surprised by the different twists in a story I thought I knew but a little confused by the chapter that I thought I had read. It seemed to me different somehow, turns out that seven years later I had remembered correctly. -
The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
My freshman year of college Jamie Ford was the visiting author. A professor had noticed my interest in Japanese-Americans during WWII and asked me to bring a PowerPoint that I had made to his presentation. After the dinner, my first experience with sushi, I got to meet the author and get his book signed. -
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
I never got around to this book until after I had graduated from high school, and it's sad really because this was such a great story! I have collected most of Stevenson's works now and he is one of my favorite authors just two years later. -
Down the Mysterly River by Bill Willingham
This is one of the first books I ever won for the purpose of reviewing. I also remember it as being the book I took to the theatre when I went to see my favorite movie of all time, The Lion King. -
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
I waited an awfully long time to read what amounts to a ,assive picture book. This amazing work looks staggeringly thick, but I finished it in one night. I recommend reading this and catching the movie. It isn't often you find a fictional children's book that celebrates the movie industry and the book itself was almost perfectly suited for filming. -
Crispin; The Cross of Lead by Avi
This is the first book I'd ever read by Avi. I picked it up as part of my challenge to read all the Newbery winners. While it is not something that I would normally read, I loved the characters and the story. I look forward to reading more of Avi's works. -
On to the Future!
I'm looking forward to the future! I have so many books to share with classes that I will have. I also have stories I want to share! I enjoy creating new worlds through my words and ideas and hope to share this excitement with many students.
