As a child, I "hated" reading. There were few times that I could truly say that I loved a book or was unable to put it down. Now, I teach English...that's irony for you. There were so many factors that influenced my sentiment about reading as a pastime, but I think, most of all, it lied in book selection. I didn't know what books to read, and I had no one who was excited about reading to influence my choices. I only read books I had to for school, and obviously those were less than enthralling at times.
I remember walking to the public library on hot, summer days, the Texas sun baking all living things. After much prodding from my mom, I would resign to "get ahead" on my AR points (a system my school used to assess my reading comprehension) and make the trek. The crusty folder in the library that held "the list" was my first stop. Perusing its titles, I never seemed to find books within my required reading level that looked in any way appealing. I remember feeling frustrated, disgusted, and exhausted...there had to be more to reading than this.
Captivated. I want my students to describe their reading experiences with one word: captivated. To achieve this, I've learned that I need to be an educated reader of young adult literature, and I'm missing a childhood worth of reading time. Put simply, the purpose of this blog is to chronicle my journey as a reader with my humble assessments of what I've read.
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