I got to thinking today about how I got into reading in the first place. My mom is an avid reader, and it seems as if avid-reader-parents breed avid-reader-children. But you have to start somewhere, and you certainly can’t start with what your parents are reading.
I don’t know the order in which I started reading, I only know that I started reading The Babysitter’s Club
…which made me want to start my own babysitter’s club! I attempted this with a friend of mine, but it didn’t work out. We even came up with a jingle! It went like this (I can’t sing it over the internet, so you’ll have to imagine your own beat):
Need a babysitter NAB
Need a babysitter NAB
We’ll watch your kids
Any ol’ time
Need a babysitter NAB
Silly, but fun. Somewhere around this time I learned about Sweet Valley High.
And around this same time I was with my sister-in-law and we were out at yard sales and someone was selling their almost-complete set of the Sweet Valley High series (there ended up being almost 100, if I remember correctly). Was I in heaven!! I started at number one and read them right through. Those, more than any other books, are the ones I would say are The Books That Got Me Into Reading.
Shortly after this I read V.C. Andrews.
Those books are about as trashy as they come. They contain incest, abuse, neglect…nothing explicit, they’re definitely books for children (well, teenagers), but they’re even farther away from literature than Sweet Valley High. They sure were good, though!
What books got you into reading?
| Tags: Books 4 comments »
January 12th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
I guess they didn’t want you linking their images, LMAO!!
My 10 yr old has read some of The Babysitter’s Club, but as far as I know she hasn’t tried to start a club of her own. She can be very secretive, though, so she could be doing any number of things behind my back.
January 12th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Hahahaha!! I thought I’d gotten around that! Dang!
Well that book your daughter reviewed sounded great! I wish my mom had been more proactive in my reading exploits…
January 15th, 2008 at 8:18 am
Oh WOW! Do I remember VC Andrews! scary stuff! too funny. I think THAT is one of the those books that started because a friend read it and it went through the whole school. That and “Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret” Judy Blume. What a true classic, huh?
I attribute my love for reading to my 5th grade teacher who read the Hobbit to us. I remember thinking it OK to read books that were not geared to my age group and I started devouring Agatha Christy.
Funny that I don’t recall my mom having much influence on my reading. I know she didn’t approve of Danielle Steele while I was in HS.
I do remember trying to race my dad reading. I wanted to turn a page at the same time or better than he did and still know what I read.
January 17th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
GAH! I never did read Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret, though I did read other Judy Blume books. I think I missed out on quite a few good young adult reads, including The Indian in the Cupboard, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.