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Basically I read a lot, and the material I read varied hugely in difficulty, age appropriateness (or lack thereof), and genre. Though there was a lot of science fiction and fantasy and a steady stream of comic books. I did read (and write) poetry, I read a lot of mythology, a lot of the sort of chapter books children are supposed to read (Robert Louis Stevenson, L. M. Montgomery) and a great number of the chapter books children are not supposed to read (The Lord of the Rings, The Mists of Avalon, Tanith Lee's Delirium's Mistress). And I still read picture books, especially if they had pretty art or were fairy tales. The pattern was that I would read realistic fiction aimed at about my age level or even sometimes below, history and science aimed far above my age level, and science fiction and fantasy for any age. The worst age inappropriate thing I did was to read fat 500 page adult books from the New York Public Library on the French Inquisition in 6th grade - Piers Anthony's 6th book in the Incarnations of Immortality series was out then, (For Love of Evil) and I'd read the bits about the French Inquisition in shock - surely nothing could be so horrible. Well, of course the French Inquisition was much more horrible than that, and I gave myself nightmares for several weeks discovering just how horrible it could be, fueled by late-night chocolate-covered-coffee-bean binges at my grandmother's house as I worked my way through all those fat old books from the NYPL. I read a huge adult-aimed book on the Crusades too, and I'm afraid my picture of religious faith was rather bleak for a number of years thereafter. The Crusades and the Inquisition are a heavy one-two punch for an 8 year old.
In 5th and 6th grade I basically had 1 hour of school a day and then had to fill in the rest of the time by reading on my own, since I had run through most of the textbooks my very small school had. So I spent 5 plus hours a day in school reading, then read on the bus ride to school, the bus ride home, and at home, which explains why this list is so long - I typically might read 3 or 4 chapter books in a single day, and only favorites or ones I re-read a lot are even showing up when I think through this list. I read most of the Dorothy Canfield Fisher award nominees both years, and could still tell you plots of some but no titles/authors. Except for the Stephanie Tolan book because I just looked it up - I read it in 6th grade, it was called A Good Courage.
In 5th and 6th grade I basically had 1 hour of school a day and then had to fill in the rest of the time by reading on my own, since I had run through most of the textbooks my very small school had. So I spent 5 plus hours a day in school reading, then read on the bus ride to school, the bus ride home, and at home, which explains why this list is so long - I typically might read 3 or 4 chapter books in a single day, and only favorites or ones I re-read a lot are even showing up when I think through this list. I read most of the Dorothy Canfield Fisher award nominees both years, and could still tell you plots of some but no titles/authors. Except for the Stephanie Tolan book because I just looked it up - I read it in 6th grade, it was called A Good Courage.
