My Love For Reading

I am the daughter of a kindergarten teacher therefore, I have always had the urge to learn. My interest in reading began when I was a young girl. Through my early years, I watched my mother study day and night as she worked towards her degree. I instantly learned that in order to achieve anything in life one must read. Reading is a vital step in opening the mind up to new material and new possibilities. My mother also had the opportunity to work first hand with a massive amount of books in Tuskegee University’s Library. Her job exposed me to a new level of learning. I was no longer interested in watching my mother read. Instead, I wanted to read myself. The first books I can remember reading were the Dr. Seuss books. I took an interest in …show more content…
My mother started taking me to Book-A-Million so I could see the different books and genres. I favored mystery, romance, and urban novels mostly because each genre kept me wondering what comes next. I admired many genres because I could see myself in the character’s shoes no matter the situation. My favorite book during that time was Tears of a Tiger by Sharon Draper. The novel made me more aware of my surroundings because it never occurred to me that a teenager could lose their life. I started to read more books like Tears of a Tiger, and I decided that I was going to write a novel for teens someday. I wanted to encourage them about the importance of education and staying focused. I wanted to tell a story that would motivate the people who were disconnected with …show more content…
In the eighth grade I was given a reading test that was supposed to measure my level of reading. One of my teachers gave me passages and asked to read them aloud and recall key information. I followed her directions, but my results categorized me as a “slow reader”. I was not offended by the results because I did not know the teacher was looking for speed. I assumed the test was focusing on comprehension. I suddenly became embarrassed when I was placed in a lower-level reading group and asked to read books that were clearly below my level. I completely shut down because my strong love for reading had been broken. I never offered to read aloud in class, and I started to lose interest in reading all