A Reading Autobiography

Super Librarian is working on a Master of Library Science degree and one of her assignments is to write a reading autobiography.  She says, "In this spirit of this assignment, tell me about some people, books, or experiences that you believe influenced your attitudes about reading at an early age" and I thought it was an interesting thing to think about. 

I didn't think I had any memories of my mom reading to me until I got out my ancient copy of The Cat in the Hat and read it to my daughter.  I instantly started hearing my mother's cadences and tone of voice.  That was a neat experience. 

When I was in kindergarten I was always reading books under my desk when I was supposed to be listening to the teacher.  Oops.  Eventually they put in in a special class for a certain part of each day.  I remember the Paddington Bear pop-up book that the teacher from that class gave me as a present. 

The librarian at my elementary school wore lots of rings and tall leather boots.  When listening to her read, her leather covered calves were right at my eye level and when she took her rings off I could see the grey lines underneath. 

Hm.  Looking at those last three paragraphs I realize that my first few reading models were women.  I wonder how this would've affected me if I was a young boy.  Sort of sad to think about.