Every Rose

 [ This soundoff was written in response to an Op-ed written by Mark Franek about children's reading habits today.]

My favorite line in the piece was “All teachers know that the desire to read grows with reading. Perhaps some books should be treated like Brussels-sprouts, force-fed to students at certain times in their educational lives. Most books, however, should be offered up like genuine invitations by loving parents and caring teachers.” Though I?ll admit I?m a Brussels- sprouts fan, I understand what you?re getting at. Many of the literature selections I have read in the past have been forced upon me, but when I got into them I really enjoyed them. For example when I purchased East of Eden for summer reading, I didn?t know how I was going to get through it. I?ve never been a Steinbeck fan, but once I forced myself to read it I loved it. I have also had my share of books passed down to me by my mom.

My mom saved her favorite childhood books and passed them down to my sister and me when she thought we could handle them. Since my sister is four years older then me she received them first, and sadly got to watch all the movies first. So there was my sister locked in the basement allowed to watch little women, the movie. I was so jealous I walked up to my mom that day, in second grade, and begged her to read it to me so I could see the movie too. Well having her read it to me wasn?t part of the deal, I had to read it all on my own. Well I did. I finished the entire book and then read it again. I loved it. Sadly the movie wasn?t all I had hoped it would be.

Little Women was really the beginning of reading for me. Sure, I knew how to read before that, but I had never really grown attached to a character like I did in Little Women. Post reading it, I became an avid reader. There was a summer that my mom still talks about when I read fourteen decent sized books. That?s not to say that I would read just anything that was set in front of me, but when I found a book I liked I was finished it in a day.

I suppose the book a day thing isn?t still in affect, seeing as I don?t have all-day-reading time, but I can still finish a decent book pretty quickly, and though the past few books I?ve had to read for school haven?t been my favorite, I?ve learned to grin and bear them, just like my Brussels sprouts.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 25th, 2007 at 1:14 pm and is filed under English Class soundoffs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.