World Book Night

This one almost got past me. Yesterday, April 23, was World Book Night. Here in Athens, Georgia, people were giving away books to total strangers. Did it happen in your town? An effort to encourage people to read more?

Book store owner Janet G. (Avid Bookshop) suggests finding people at bus stops. University students are handing books to friends they believe don’t read enough.

Will it work? Maybe I will go downtown and pass out a few copies of Guns Across the Rio.

I read a teacher’s comment – if they can’t read by the Third Grade, you can tattoo a big “D” on their foreheads. For “Dropout.” Atlanta’s dropout rate approaches 50%.

Does each child learn differently? NO, says the teacher. “Pay attention in class. Do homework. Study for the test. That’s how every child learns.” I like her.

And the teacher adds: No 24-hour TV in the bedroom. Read. And parents, set an example at the dinner table. Fight obesity at home. (I hope this isn’t too political…).

My problem was inattention in school. My grandmother Baird taught me how to read when I was seven. My dad had a 20-volume encyclopedia, The Book of Knowledge, with wonderful pictures. That's how I started.

How did you learn to read? Do you remember?

Dac Crossley
April 24, 2012

“A bookstore in one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking.” – Jerry Seinfeld.

Comments

[Augie]

I can't remember either when I first started to read, but my mom used to read to all 6 of us every day. I used to walk to the local library (2 miles) with my cousin and bring home a stack of books for a week, and then we would take them back and pick up another stack...those were the fun days.

[Dac Crossley Jr.]

And you want this person for an editor??

Dac

[irene black]

Reading was a part of my life from the day I was four days old; my father bought me a copy of Alice in Wonderland, which I still have. He read me Moby Dick when I was three. It goes without saying that children were strangers to him.
Somewhere after four my parents realized I could read on my own, that I hadn't memorize a beloved story.
I am strickly a sight reader who is unable to tell someone what a word is when it is spelled out, I must see it on the page.
I don't think I ever earned a grade higher than nil on a spelling test. I keep two rows of dictionaries & thesaures by my hand when I'm writing.
Also am very greatful that I was considered lazy and not labeled as children are today. I have a very mild form of dyslexia, where the brain doesn't process certain phonic sounds the way it should, but I was in my late 30s with a PhD. before the problem was identified.
I remember the pain in a young man's (student teacher) voice, "When you can't spell you're considered a dummy all your life." I suspect he may have had the same problem. Will shut up for now.

[Eileen Obser]

I wrote a personal essay called "Words, Glorious Words" about how I learned to read several few years ago It was published in The Southampton Review, Stony Brook University's literary magazine. It's on my website: www.eileenobser.com.

[Shirley White]

We also had the BOOK(s) OF KNOWLEDGE and Daddy read to us every night while Mama prepared supper. As we ourselves began to read, we had to show him our hands were clean so we wouldn't smudge his wonderful books. So, we learned to care for and respect them.

[Patricia Gligor]

Dac,
I can't remember a time when I didn't read. (Either I learned how to read at a very early age or my memory is going.) :)
I do remember my Aunt Ann (the main character in "Mixed Messages" is named after her) buying me story books at the grocery store when I was a little girl. Each of the books came with a 45 rpm record, telling the story. I believe that was my first introduction to reading.

[Genie]

Riding along with an aunt who helped me figure out the road sign YIELD - I don't know if this was the 1st word I read, but it was the 1st time I realized how important reading was.

[kitti Reynolds]

I can't remember when I didn't read; it has always been something I loved. Early memories include hunching over my nightlight with the Bobsey Twins, when my parents thought I was asleep. Fond memories of reading Tolkien to Ryan when he was 3 or 4.