Personal Essay: How Reading Changed My Life

The circumstances in which a child is raised can affect their feelings towards literature. If parents are supportive of a child’s education, they will grow up with more happiness towards learning and reading. For example, Jeannette Walls, in her memoir, The Glass Castle, tells how though she was raised in poverty, her parents supported reading. In the same way, Eudora Welty, in her memoir, One Writer’s Beginnings, explains how she was raised in a loving home by parents who completely supported reading. Whereas Walls was raised in poverty, Welty was raised with money.

When my sister became too old to listen bedtime stories, she would read to me instead. Even though we watched our fair share of television, we were expected to spend just as much time, if not more, with reading. That wasn’t difficult, especially considering that we grew up while the Harry Potter books were starting to take the world by storm. Our mom supported our Potter mania and read the books alongside us, saying that the Harry Potter books shared a similar style to Charles Dickens, her favorite author- and now one of mine.

Kelley I learned one of the saddest lessons you could learn in a matter of minutes. I learned that life can end much quicker than expected. When your best friend attempts suicide, and she is hundreds of miles away, you realize that you cannot take life for granted. I could not even be there for her. There were some things that are impossible to stop, no matter how hard you try.

My mother had a love of reading which she desperately tried to pass on to her children. I remember we would go to the Library all the time, which was one of my favorite memories as a child. My mom would tell us to pick out three books each and off we would go. When I was young I defiantly judged a book by its cover, I wanted the outside to look inviting and then maybe I would pick it out to discover what the inside was all about. My mother would read to us every night, at first just some simple children’s books and then, as we got older, we would read novels together.

But I still had to get the reading done so I had to just get the reading done so I got a good grade. That is what has made me the reader/writer I am today. Junior year Junior year in my english class my teacher made us read a book of our choice. She let us choose from here books and she let us go to the library to look for books so we could find one that we really liked. Even though we got one we liked it doesn’t make me all of a sudden like reading.

I kept on hearing this beeping sound, almost like something was about to go off, like it was ticking down the time until I could get back to my family. My heart was sinking down to my feet. I kept on hearing my Mom’s voice, shouting my name. I knew these were signs that I needed to get

I don 't exactly remember the day learned to read, I guess learning to read came hand in hand with learning to write, slowly. I remember having to copy words off of a blackboard onto paper, then re-write those words over and over again until I not only memorized how to write them but also how to pronounce them. I remember every Friday was library day in elementary school and my friends and I would always fight to be first in line to get to the sports section because we never wanted to have to read anything "boring". I enjoy reading for pleasure but I dislike reading for information, most likely because I have a difficult time learning something just by reading it, I am more of a hands on learner.

Personal Literacy Narrative Reading and writing is a tool everybody needs in their lifetime the basic reading and writing skills are used on a daily base no matter what field you plan to study. Reading and writing are taught at a young age. I personally was taught by preschool I noticed on how I grew with my writing and how I became a better reader and writer throughout my life I personal love reading and writing it’s a way for everyone to express themselves through their choice of words. Everybody learns how to read and write differently some students tend to be stronger than others, personally speaking I feel I tend to be higher in reading then writing.

In my opinion I haven 't changed that much. I feel that I have become more mature in life in general and in my writing and language. I also think that my personality has changed a little but not very much. I have tried to start helping people more were at the beginning of the year I didn 't help very many people because I didn 't know very many people. I have also improved a lot.

Sitting in a huge class with white walls and many strangers while hearing the summer bridge director give the instructions of a reading assignment made me feel frightened. Ever since I was small, I had always had a difficult time with my English writing and reading. Having challenges with my English made me have no interest in reading, until the summer bridge assignment changed my perspective of seeing books. During my experience in CSUMB Summer Bridge I was able to read a book who inspired me and changed my life completely. Our reading assignment was a book titled “The Pact” by Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, Rameck Hunt, and Lisa Frazier.

A day reserved for my ordinary juvenile indolence was thrown away with a simple walk to the kitchen. Within the next two weeks I would be face to face with a new lifestyle. The destined experience came earlier than expected, but sculpted my future. On this day I learned to value innocence because it’s beauty is often brief. That Saturday morning that I had reserved for binge watching and gaming was simply torched.

My Reading Goal I knew that I was challenging myself when I set this goal of two books that were 500 pages or over for the first quarter. I am busy person, but I knew that I would be faced with that same problem in college. When I am in college I am going to have more than just two college classes to worry about. I will be a full time college student with other activities also. So with knowing what I was getting myself into I set high standards for myself and tried experiencing what it was like to push myself to the limit.

Throughout the years I have realized that reading has changed my writing skills. From my earlier years to solely writing what my teacher would want, to now actually putting my own point of view and how I feel into my writing. It’s the same as when I am reading a book and I put

My experience as a reader isn 't as extraordinary as many, but I love to read. I had some great teachers throughout my education that taught me to enjoy reading challenge oneself and not be intimidated by it. Through college and today I do not have much time to read, other than school books speech, education ,and reading. Those are the sweet books I know read.

Today the books that always manage to get my attention are usually the books based on true events. My earliest memory of being read to isn’t necessarily being read to by my parents but being read to by teachers. Both my parents were always working, so they never had time to read to me. I didn’t have any older siblings to help me so when I started school, it was the first time I was exposed to reading.