Goodnight Moon
My mom would read this book to me and my older sister, Ashley, almost every night when we were little. Sometimes she would not even have the book with her because she had it memorized. Since she read it to us so much I used to think I was able to read it too; in reality I had it memorized as well and I just knew when to turn the pages. We had a small book that was just about to completely fall apart the last time I saw it. Even now my mom can still recite the whole book on the spot!
Moo, Baa, La La La
Despite the fact that I thought I was able to read Goodnight Moon, this is actually the first book I was able to read. It is mostly animal sounds which is why I knew how to read it. Once I got good at it, I loved to go read it to others! My mom has two brothers and I loved to read it to them because they would always act so goofy (like uncles do when reading with little nieces). They would say the wrong sound just so I could correct them!
The Foot Book
This book is special to my heart. My papaw dropped out of school when he was in elementary so he never learned how to read. One day when Ashley and I were very little he came and sat down with us and started reading this book to us. Just recently my mom told me that seeing this made my Nana cry because in all the time they had known each other, she had never seen him read to anyone ever.
Owl Babies
In case you have not noticed, I really do not care for reading. I do remember this book though; this is the first book that I actually wanted to read for fun by myslef. I loved these little babies and for some reason it was one of my favorite books for a long time.
My Very First Bible
My mom and dad got me and Ashley each a children's bible when we were born. I loved reading the stories with Ashley when we were little and learning all about my faith. I babysit different children around town and one Saturday morning I was watching two children from my church. It made my heart so happy when Camille, who was two at the time, brought me a similar children's bible to show me some of her favorite stories in it!
Little Golden Books
My mom had an at home daycare so we had tons of Little Golden Books at the house! I really loved most of them, but reading them is not really why I decided these books should be included in this. One day, Ashley decided that if she threw one of these hard books like a frisbee, I would be able to catch it; you know, like a dog at a park. Well she did not inform me of this plan she had, so when she threw the book, the corner of it hit me right next to my eye. I had a black eye for a few days and a little scar forever. Luckily we are able to laugh about it now and I do still think these are some of the best books.
No, David!
This was the very first book I brought home from the school library! I was so beyond excited to read it but as it turned out, I totally did not like David at all. I never liked how messy he made everything and that he was always getting in trouble. He was disrespectful and i just did not appreciate his attitude. I have no clue why, it was just never a book I cared for.
Junie B. Jones
I absolutely loved every one of these books! I had almost all of them at one point, but more have been published since I stopped reading them. I loved getting to read all about Junie B.'s adventures at school at at home. I think these books are part of the reason I decided to become a teacher (although I cannot remember now if she even liked school herself). This is the first, and probably only, series I have read in my lifetime so far. I know for a fact if I ever have a daughter, she will be getting tons of these books whether she likes them or not!
The Last Christian
During junior high and high school I did not read any book except what was required for class, and even then I barley read them. In college I was taking American Literature with one of my favorite teachers and The Last Christian was the book Mrs. Hilbert decided we would be talking about for most of the semester. When she first told us about it I was sure that it was going to be one of the worse books I had ever read. Mrs. Hilbert told us that many of her students in the past thought they would not like it, but by the end of the semester everyone always loves it. The first day we started talking about it I became intrigued. After getting past the first two pages, I could hardly put it down! This is the best book I have ever read so far. At the end of the semester I told Mrs. Hilbert that I did not have high expectations for this book but that it did in fact turn out to be amazing.
The Freedom Writers Diary
I took Professional Development 1 last semester and this was one of the books we read. I found everything about this book to be inspiring to me as a future teacher. I am from a very small school in the country so many of the things they wrote about in this book were very eyeopening. I have never been moved by stories like this before because to me, they were always made up for the movies and things like this never actually happened in real life. I had never thought I was a sheltered child until reading what all of these students went through on a daily basis. Mrs. Gruwell and her students are real people who have real stories and I was so lucky to get to read about them!