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I remember being in pre-school, watching one of my classmates-- who was ahead of the game-- reading on his own. I thought he was so cool, and I also wanted to read. -
I remember my Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Wajonowski, reading many books aloud to us. The book I remember most clearly is "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak. -
When we started reading independently in first grade, I remember struggling. I did not have the attention span to read on my own, and found reading difficult. -
I remember watching a group of kids-- who read at a higher level than I did-- reading "Because of Winn Dixie" by Kate DiCamillo. I was very jealous of them; I wanted to be part of that group, but I wasn't a strong enough reader. -
In third grade, we had a reading log. We had to read every night for at least 20 minutes. At the time, I was still struggling with devoting my full attention to reading. I often failed to read and fill out my reading log. Over winter break, we had to fill out our reading log. I remember failing to complete my reading and fill out my reading log. I ended up lying and saying I read a book that I did not read. (I do not condone my actions; I was 8). -
By 4th grade, I had discovered that I love Harry Potter. Every night before bed my mom would read a book from the Harry Potter series aloud to me. I also, entered some sort of reading contest. I did not read all of the books, however, I got through "The One And Only Ivan" and loved it. -
The pandemic hit. As someone who already disliked reading, the pandemic crushed my motivation to do any schoolwork-- let alone reading. -
While (school-required) reading did not get done for the first half of the year, as I was still distance learning, after I went back to in-person schooling, I read the required material, but still found myself struggling with writing and comprehension. -
In seventh grade, I discovered the graphic novel series Heartstopper. I read through the entire series in one sitting. It is one of the only things I can remember reading for pleasure prior to 8th grade. -
This was the pivotal year in my "reading career". At the end of the year, we read "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton. I enjoyed this novel so much that I decided to delve into Hintons' other novels. In the span of about a month, I read every single other S.E. Hinton novel. I went from never reading to always reading. -
Freshman year was the year I discovered my love for William Shakespeare. In the fall, I played Titania in a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Playing that role made me realize that I love Shakespeare's writing (it has meter!). Over the course of the year, I ended up reading many of his works at my leisure. I also won a Halo Award for my portrayal of Titania. (Not completely reading/writing related but its Shakespeare) -
In the winter of my sophomore year, I discovered my love for writing poetry. One night, I was bored and thinking, and decided to write. I ended up writing a poem, I thought, "That was fun. I should do this more often." I now write poetry often and post it to a social media account that I made for my writing.