In junior high/middle school, I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I remember vividly my friends and I used to get together at one house and talk about Sweet Valley High, a series of books. The main characters were two twin sisters where one was the bad girl and one was the good girl. I'm sure this plot sounds familiar. We used to exchange books and share books with each other. We had our own book club so to speak. Eat your heart out, Oprah! I saw reading as a means of traveling/ time transport to another place filled with wonder and new adventures. My brother, Christopher used to share with me, only after being yelled at by my mom and my grandmother, his pick your own adventure books. I remember you would read and then reach a page where you had to choose for a character, make a decision for them and turn to that specific page. Each decision had a different ending. As a result, you were able to read the same book at least twice and have a different experience and ending.
One of my favorite field trips of all time occurred in middle school. We went to Edgar Allan Poe's house. I was in the seventh grade and so excited I thought my mom might medicate me. He was and still is one of my favorite authors, especially at this time of year. I remember reading and watching the movies they made from his stories always starring Vincent Price. Some of my Edgar Allan Poe favorites are: Cask of Amontillado, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven and The Black Cat.
From my mom and my grandmother, I learned to love reading. About an hour before bedtime, they used to make us turn off the TV, put away our headphones, turn off the radio and read. It did not matter if we read a book or a magazine. What mattered was that we were reading. It calmed ourselves before going to bed and also brought us together as a family. I did realize I was and still am a much slower reader than my classmates. This may be perhaps to fully comprehend the concept/storyline or just because I take in each book/article/story detail by detail. I enjoy learning about new cultures, countries, continents and characters to this day from my reading.
