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First Book
The Very Hungry Caterpillar is the first book my mom read to me when I was a baby. She told me that I liked the colorful pictures on each page and my eyes would wonder around the pages seeing all the different types of food. When I have a kid one day I will read this to them and see if they are as curious as my mom said I was. -
First Series
The Berenstain Bears was the first series of books I remember reading by myself. I enjoyed reading these books because of the mischief the kids got into. They also taught me life lessons. I believe this series of books is good for young children to read. -
Library Visits
My mom had a big influence on my reading skills. Each summer she would take us to the library every week to check out books for the summer reading program. My brother and I would each get two books to read each week. Each night we would read before we went to bed and after each book we completed the library would give us a little reward for finishing. I believe this helped keep my mind engaged in learning during the summer breaks. -
First Chapter Book Series
Captain Underpants was the first chapter book series that I read alone. This is one of my all-time favorite series of books. That is where I found my true love of reading. The stories were funny and very creative. As a young reader this interested me a lot. Every year at the schools book fair I would look to see if there was a new Captain Underpants. In second grade we had to create a pumpkin of our favorite character from a book and my pumpkin was Captain Underpants. -
3rd grade Class Reading
In third grade our teacher noticed that our class was reading very well and wanted us to have a challenge. She decided to start letting us read out loud in class using a little more difficult set of books. At this time Harry Potter was becoming very popular, so we decided to read that series of books. This was one of the first times I felt challenged by reading, but it allowed me to grow as a reader and I thank my teacher for pushing us. -
2nd and 4th Grade Teacher
In elementary school I was lucky enough to have the same 2nd and 4th grade teacher. Mrs. WIldermuth focused on reading and writing. The book that I remember her reading to us is the Junie B. Jones series. She would have a voice for every character. It was like she was bringing the characters to life and made it fun to read. -
Controversial Novel
In 7th grade the library had a book challenge. It was the first time that I had a chance to read a controversial book. The first book I read during that challenge was High Heat. This book talked about a kid who went through a lot and decided to use drugs and alcohol and eventually could not play baseball any more. He had to earn his way back onto the team. This book allowed me to see the world in a different light. I really enjoyed this book because I never read anything like it before. -
Night
During my freshman year in high school we had to read a book called Night. Before reading that book I never really thought about WW2. After completing that book I started to become more interested in WW2 and started doing research over it. To this day I enjoy watching documentaries and reading stories about WW2. I am glad I read that book because I started caring about history and wanting to learn more. -
Senior English
During my senior year of high school I had an amazing English teacher named Ms. Starnes. She was different from any English teacher I have had before. She made class fun and made us want to be there. We would read a book in class and then after each section we would create a group project based of the characters and settings. This was something different than just writing a paper over the book. My favorite book that we read in that class was Lord of the Flies. -
English 1301 Part 2
During my college career there have been a few classes that have had a major impact on me. English 1301 was one of those. I had to take the class twice because I was a terrible student my first semester. My professor was Dr. Hama and on the first day of class he scared me a little, but as the class moved forward I could see my writing improving based on his teachings. Students could relate to each topic. I also enjoyed his life lessons and his commitment to push us to be better writers.
