Aug. 18th, 2007

For a youth services class in library school, we were asked to describe and analyze in about 5 pages our reading history.  That was such a struggle for me, because I read a lot.  I've always read a lot.  And for someone without a lot of other hobbies who can read about 3 pages a minute in fiction with good retention, the reading can really pile up.  I'm thinking about this because Elizabeth Moon was talking in her blog about what people read outside of school.  So I'm trying to get it straight here.  I think I'll have to do it by chunks of grade/age, as otherwise it won't fit.  Then I can add other stuff I think of and remember later in the comments.  I'm pretty sure no somewhat comprehensive list would fit in one post.

Kindergarten is a short one though, and it makes the next posts funnier.  In kindergarten I read nothing, because I couldn't read.  Not that uncommon, I suppose.  I learned to read over the summer after kindergarten.  In kindergarten, I couldn't even read "Green Eggs and Ham."
I learned to read over the summer - my mom spent a lot of time working with me, reading beginning books with me.
In 1st grade, I could read fluently.  Like, chapter books on a 6th grade level fluently.
I read Doctor Dolittle (the whole series - there are a lot of them), the complete Grimm's fairy tales, the complete Andersen fairy tales (which I didn't like nearly as much), a bunch of Greek mythology for children, Elizabeth Winthrop's The Castle in the Attic, which the teacher gave me to read and I loved, Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the Dana Girls, some kind of kid psychic detective books my gramma bought me, Conan the Barbarian and Doctor Strange comics of my moms, The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov.
I'm still grateful to the principal of that school, who went on to be some kind of area superintendent.  I got sent to her office at the beginning of 1st grade for rude, disruptive behavior.  She did all these tests on me in her office and figured out I could read really well and everything, and I didn't have to have regular classes pretty much ever again until 7th grade.  She was really nice - I used to buy her presents when she visited my other schools later on - her name was Ms. Barone, I believe.

Profile

vcmw

July 2024

S M T W T F S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031   

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Aug. 17th, 2025 04:34 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios