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My earliest reading experience was when my mom used to read to me in Spanish as a toddler.
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I remember learning how to read English through "Dick and Jane" books as a child.
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I remember having a couple of different family members get me subscriptions to National Geographic magazines that were aimed for children.
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Around this time I became completely obsessed with two children's poetry books by Shel Silverstein: "Where The Sidewalk Ends" and "A Light In The Attic"
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I remember going back and spending an entire summer in Alicante, Spain when I was 8 years old. My grandfather was an incredibly cultured and learned man who introduced me to the poetry of Gustavo Adolfo Becquer. It was love poetry that was meant for a much older reader but I instantly fell in love with it and memorized over a dozen of his poems that I still know to this day over 30 years later.
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Around this time, I discovered the joys of reading Choose Your Own Adventure books. I loved skipping around the book after making choices for the characters and seeing how they effected the plot.
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I remember a much older girl I had a huge crush on introducing me to The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. I really got into those books and that helped get me more into reading in junior high.
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After reading Julius Caesar in high school, I began devouring all of Shakespeare's plays. I subsequently continued my studies of Shakespeare my first time through college.
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After over 15 years, I decided to go back to college. I wasn't really reading much during this huge gap other than articles online. Therefore, this was a huge deal as I had to get back into reading academic material.
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I transferred to Nevada State and majored in Secondary School Education with an emphasis in English. My excellent Literature teachers taught me close reading skills that had never been developed previously.
