How did you start reading?

[kwjones]

I think I was around 3 and asked my mom to teach me to read because I got tired of asking, "What does that say?". Mom taught me phonics from her set of McGuffey readers.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by yekim54

It was all downhill after finishing this one.

Find Dick

Jane said, “I see you. I see you, Sally. I can find you. I can not find Dick. Help me, Sally. Come here. Help me find Dick.”

Jane said, “Oh, Father. I can not find Dick. And we can not play. Help me, father. Help me find Dick.”

Father said, “Look, Jane. Look, look, look. You can find Dick.”

Sally said, “Oh, oh. I see Dick now. Father and I see Dick. We see funny Dick. Look, Jane, look. You can find Dick now.”

Reprinted in The World of Dick and Jane and Friends.


I read several of those stories out loud to my wife and neither of us could keep a straight face!

[joobies]

First books I recall reading were the Dick and Jane series.
First books I purchased were:
Encyclopedia Brown, Pippi Longstocking and the Nancy Drew series.

[pholy]

The first books I remember reading for fun were the Thornton W. Burgess animal stories; from the classroom bookshelf in preference over the assigned reading, whatever that was. Shortly after was Jim Kjelgaard's Big Red and its sequels, which became PD last month, and will soon grace the MR bookshelf.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by joobies

First books I recall reading were the Dick and Jane series.
First books I purchased were:
Encyclopedia Brown, Pippi Longstocking and the Nancy Drew series.

Oh, yes, they were the first. And on Library Day at school, we would fight over the Dr. Seuss books. But the first books I bought with my own money (excluding comic books) were the Bomba the Jungle Boy books.

[jenieliser]

The first books I remember really enjoying and begging to go to the library to get were Babysitter Club, Nancy Drew, and Sweet Valley High... then moved on to Jane Austen novels ha ha I was such a geek! (still am I suppose) My teachers even made fun of me reading all the time. I was Belle from Beauty and the Beast-my nose always in a book. Poor Eric (my husband) didn't realize he was giving me another obsession when he gave me my Reader.

edit: I totally forgot Encyclopedia Brown!! Good stuff!

[edbro]

Mine was a bio of Harry Houdini that I borrowed from the elementary school library. I don't know why I remember that as it was about 42 years ago.

[toomanybooks]

I'm told that I made my parents read all of the Babar books over and over again. The first books I remember reading myself were the Bobbsey Twin books. Then I read all of the LM Montgomery books. I still read through her books every two years.

[njm]

Comic books were the first things I read with a lot of enthusiasm. After that I got into H. G. Welles, Jules Verne and science fiction. I probably didn't understand Vernes and Welles that much and whatever satiric intent Welles had would have flown right over my head but I liked them at the time. I read a lot of juvenile fiction . . . Tom Swift . . . the Mushroom Planet books. There was some Christian series of novels about a boy who wasn't allowed to go the movies. That's all I remember about them, that the author didn't think young people should be going to the movies. I read books about dinosaurs. And guns for some reason. I knew a lot more about guns in elementary school than I do now.

[Waltarro]

For the longest time I wasn't at all interested in reading, I think
school kind of ruined it for me, testing and what not. Silly as it may
sound I gave it another try at 33 because I was finally bored of tv, especially
the scifi available. I read some of the classics and a prs505 and two years later I'm hooked.

[MobileTechReview]

When I was really, really little: Dr. Seuss. I was reading before I could walk (I was a spaz of a little kid but nerdy at birth I guess).
When I was little: Nancy Drew (I think my parents had to buy every darned one).
When I was 10 it was A Tale of Two Cities and Lord of the Flies-- those got me hooked for life.

[Fringecup]

The first book that I remember reading was a hard-cover version of "The Wizard of Oz". I got it from the school library and read it over 4 days (and nights), including recess, lunch, schoolbus time and before/after school and at bedtime. Was I ever proud of myself!!!

[Billjr13]

I remember my parents reading a lot. It seems my Dad always had a book to read in the evenings. When I was six or seven I remember reading Dr. Seuss and The Berenstain Bears to my baby sister. I know I had a subsrcription to Highlights and Boys Life magazines too. I also remember in school reading the SRA program. It was my goal to finish the whole kit before anyone else in class. Oh and the Hardy Boys and the Three Investigators mystery books

[anabelee]

Originally Posted by carlobee

My mom told me i started reading when I was 2 years old. and I can't remember how I did it.

Something similar to me, I started so young that I cannot remember first books. The first I remember I think was Treasure's island, and a lot of Jules Verne adventures. My parents bought the whole collection.

[IvyRose]

I very clearly remember the first book I read. When I was little (pre-school), my mom used to read books to me almost every night before going to bed. She was/and still is a great reader and I have inherited the love for books from her. One book she used to read to me was a pink hardcover volume with stories about animals. It was written in Swiss German dialect (which was not very commen 40 years ago) and the title was (translated in English) "Stories for little animal lovers". I loved that book and could hardly wait to be old enough to go to school where they would teach me to read, so I could finally read this favorite book of mine.

Well, from the moment on, I was able to read more than just a few words I got books for birthday and christmas from everyone and that's how it started, that everlasting love