Like most children, I learned the logistics of reading in first grade. Knowing the alphabet and numbers were cool, but actually reading was a very grown up thing to do. I couldn’t wait to have my own tools, reading was going to make me unstoppable. I was able to pass the spelling test with no problem, but when we would discuss books and things we had read, I was noticing that I wasn’t reading the same story as everybody else. Some of my friends would be able to recount passages or scenes from the story we had read for homework, but none of that was in my book. My teacher, Mrs. Jones, noticed the same thing. Turns out, I was reading the same stories as everybody else, I was just have trouble with comprehension and retention. Mrs. Jones started giving me a little extra attention and helping me through the work, and sending home special books just for me. There were many times that I was staying inside during recess to read more, most kids would have felt left out, but I loved the extra attention. She then suggested a special reading camp put on by my elementary school. At this camp is where I fell in love with The Adventures of Toad and Frog by Arnold Lobel. These are the first books that I can remember actively reading and comprehending on my own. I was so proud that they even had chapters and some pages without pictures. I can remember taking out the same books from the library every trip we had. My teacher was becoming suspicious that I had memorized the stories and they were becoming too easy for me, but really I just loved the confidence they gave me. Once they finally pried me away from from my safe zone of stories, they realized that I wasn’t faking it, I was actually improving. Recently, I stumbled upon the exact book I was obsessed with, and looking at it as a potential teacher I can see why I found so much independence in them. They offer many sight words that were already familiar, and they had a style that resembled adult books. I still have trouble with comprehension to this day, but I have developed strategies to keep myself on track. I now know that one read through is not enough for me, and it is crucial to look up a word when I don’t know it. I accredit my success as a student and writer to Mrs. Jones and close attention, and her recommendation to the books that started my love of reading.
Summer reading is the dreaded inevitable of the public school system, but one special book changed the way I read forever. As a preteen in the late 2000’s, I was introduced to the queen of YA, Jodi Picoult. I was assigned to read My Sister’s Keeper, the story of a young girl who’s only reason to live was to have her organs harvested to keep her ailing sister alive. The first line of the story had me jarred, and has remained with me for the last decade, “If you have a sister, and she dies, do you still say you have a sister?”. Having two siblings myself, and loosing my sister at a young age, this line shook me. This was the first time I saw a resemblance of myself in a character. Since that moment, I strive to find myself in every character I come across. This story helped me feel understood at a young age, when no one else my age could. It was a relief and a sense of survivor’s guilt off my shoulders. A story made me feel safe.
In middle school, the teachers are trying their best to teach the students why not to do drugs or drink or anything reckless, but no matter what they told us, there were those that strayed. What kept me on the straight and narrow was the book Go Ask Alice. The story is the non-fictional diary entries of a young girl who has fallen in love with heroin. Published after her death, the girl’s mother wanted to use her story to keep other teens safe. This was the first biographical piece I had ever read, and I was so fascinated at the notion. Since this story, the notion that real moments could be written down and explored from a first person perspective was thrilling. Although I do love expending and manipulating my imagination, it is nice sometimes when the details are just filled in for you, from the mouth of the person that lived them. The events told in this story scared me, even her well detailed euphoric moments left me feeling uneasy, because they were followed by dark and twisted lows. This was also the first time I have ever had to put a book down because I was too overwhelmed. I’m not sure if there has ever been a book that has left me so emotionally exhausted since this one.
It wasn’t until college that I fell in love with writing, and found my place in the creative writing department. But what truly inspired me that writing was a possibility was the Lost Soul Series by Eliza Freed. The story is amazing and entertaining, but the real inspiring aspect is the author. Eliza Freed, her pen name calls her, is actually a good family friend. She grew up with my parents, we attended the same high school, and our family farms are neighbors. This trilogy tells the story a girl who falls in love with a cowboy, and exactly what it is actually like to live amongst the rodeo circuit. What made it so entertaining was Eliza used the names of real people living in our town, and an exact layout of our small community. It was so entertaining to be able to picture this fictional couple in our very real town. It took Eliza a decade to complete this series, but through the births of both of her children and multiple career changes, she pursued her passion and worked tirelessly. Over the last five years, Eliza has had nine books published, three of them being series. To watch someone that comes from the same stock as I be successful in a career that so little are, has me feeling excited and proud. I will always be her number one fan.
My most current read is the autobiography of my own personal idol, Bruce Springsteen. Since I was a little girl, Bruce’s music has always been a strong bond between my grandmother and I. As a teen in the 60’s, my grandmother was attracted to the civil rights movement and rebellion against the government, all things Bruce has stood for. When his biography was released in 2016, we were first in line. I had been taught how he was a Jersey boy who made it out, but his story about living in the shadows of the catholic community and having questions of faith going through the phases of rock n’roll were fascinating. He discusses his struggle with depression while seeing the same signs in his father. He recaps the stages of his music career and how he was a self-made man, yet giving credit to his friends and bandmates that have followed him through the years. I have listened to the records a million times, but I have never felt like I truly understood the words until after I had read the book. It turns out a kid from New Jersey that grew to be a rock star is not that different from a girl from New Jersey that just wants to make it out.
Chronological Order:
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
A Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams
Miss Nelson is Missing! By Harry Allard
Adventures of Toad and Frog by Arnold Lobel
Eloise by Kay Thompson
Meet Samantha: An American Girl Story by Susan Adler
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Peterson
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Artichoke’s Heart by Suzanne Supplee
Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
The Twilight Saga By Stephanie Myers
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Rumble Fish by S.E. Hinton
Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks
Sold by Patricia McCormick
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Lost Souls Series by Eliza Freed
Full Share by Eliza Freed
Lion’s Den by Eliza Freed
Josh and Anna and Gabe and Claire by Eliza Freed
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen
Tequila Mockingbird 