"Invitation
If you are a dreamer, come in,
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer . . .
If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!"
~ Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends
When I was in the third grade, back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, my teacher (Ms. Shelley) began reading Shel Silverstein poems and I was hooked! I couldn't get enough Shel Silverstein. Ms. Shelley played the accompanying CD and I began memorizing the poems. One day at the book store with my parents and brother, I BEGGED (maybe through a tantrum) for my parents to buy me Where the Sidewalk Ends. It is one of my first memories of being excited to be a reader. The book cover is yellowing, but still there, and on the inside cover I wrote my name so proudly, and promptly added a smiley face afterward. I don't have the CD with Mr. Silverstein himself reading the poems, but I can still hear him in my head. What a wonderful poet he is!
So, I started thinking (and I do a lot of thinking): What is YOUR favorite and first memory of reading? Did someone lead you and inspire you, like my Ms. Shelley? Was there a favorite book that you just couldn't get enough of? Who gave you an "Invitation" to be a reader?
When I was in second and third grades, my dad was an elementary school principal. I remember going with him to school in the summertime and sitting in the book room reading all the anthologies. One day, a teacher came in...I don't remember her name...and invited me to come read in her classroom. It was full of books, covered in books! I was enthralled. She introduced me to authors - E.B. White, Roahl Dahl, who wrote the Witch of Blackbird Pond...I haven't stopped pouring through books since!
ReplyDeleteI guess my mother helped me become the reader I am today. One of my best memories of reading as a child was getting Little Golden books at the grocery store. I would ask my mother for one every time I went with her. She didn't buy me one every time but enough that I had a nice collection. I still have a few of them. Another rich memory is joining the library summer reading clubs. I made sure I did this with my boys, too. Libraries and book stores are some of my favorite places. Now I have a son who is a research librarian! I guess I did something right!
ReplyDeleteI remember being read to as a small child. Goleden books and others.
ReplyDeleteWinken, Blicken and Nod was a favorite, and I remember safe guarding the book.
Also, Little Black Sambo.
The first book I remeber being drawn into was Huck Finn and other works of Mark Twain. I was in fifth or sixth grade.