My First Meme

Books? Reading? Childhood? How can I resist? I read this meme at Semicolon (originally started here at Kate's Book Blog) and had to jump right on board.

1. How old were you when you learned to read and who taught you? I was four. Mom taught me. I don't remember learning to read, but I do remember sitting in Mom's lap while she taught my sister (read her responses to these questions here).

2. Did you own any books as a child? If so, what’s the first one that you remember owning? If not, do you recall any of the first titles that you borrowed from the library? We went to the library so often that I am not sure what books we owned and which we brought home from the library. I don't remember having shelves of books to choose from like my kids. Oh, I do remember vividly that we owned (and I read and re-read) the "two-books," a set of Companion Library books with two books in one volume.

3. What’s the first book that you bought with your own money? I don't remember. Probably a horse book.

4. Were you a re-reader as a child? If so, which book did you re-read most often? Yes! Not only was I a voracious reader, I was a voracious re-reader. Good thing, or I might have read the library clean out of books! I re-read The Black Stallion series (Walter Farley), The Incredible Journey (Sheila Burnford), Where the Red Fern Grows (Wilson Rawls). Everything by Margeurite Henry.

I still re-read Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass (Lewis Carroll), The Sword in the Stone (T.H. White) and The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy (J.R.R. Tolkien) regularly. I know, that's more than one, but they're like potato chips....

5. What’s the first adult book that captured your interest and how old were you when you read it? When I was about 8 (9?) I fell in love with a kid's book and my mom suggested that I search for books by the same author. She'd written mostly adult books. Adult romance books. I vividly remember telling the librarian upstairs in the adult section (oh, I felt so grown-up!) that my mom said I could. I don't think my mother realized what I was checking out. It was only mildly inappropriate, but still...I didn't check out any more of her books. At about the same age I read Jaws all in one night while my parents were gone. I don't think I was supposed to read it. I never asked, but rushing to read it while they weren't around suggests that I probably knew the answer.

As for adult books that I was allowed to read, I read a couple books when I was about 12 written by a woman who worked with children with autism and other disabilities. I was particularly fascinated by her descritions of autism. I decided then that I wanted to teach children with autism when I grew up. Life's funny, isn't it?

6. Are there children’s books that you passed by as a child that you have learned to love as an adult? Which ones? Historical fiction in general. I was just not interested when I was young. Now I enjoy reading the books I assign my oldest for her free reading, and she's enjoying them too. It's been fun to discover new books together.