Who do you credit for your love of reading?

Azhria Lilu

Captain
For me, it is my granddad. From a very early age, he promoted words and books. One of my first memories is sitting on his lap while he read Meg & Mog to me :D

He'd pick out five words from a dictionary every week for me to learn, gradually picking harder and harder words - turning it into a game. He'd give me a word and suggest I try and incorporate it into a sentence during the day. If I could manage it, I'd get a treat of some kind - pavlov's dogs anyone? LOL
 
My mother and father. Mum read to me endlessly from long before I could read and she made sure I could read passably even before I started school. My Dad harboured ambitions to be a writer and wrote several novels, plays and screenplays in various genres. As I grew up he kept me supplied with a seemingly endless supply of novels by authors like Aldous Huxley and John Wyndham. My mother despaired and tried to interest me in Jane Austen and Emily Bronte ... ew! Too verbose and olde-fashioned. Dad likewise tried to get me to read Jules Verne and HG Wells ... again they went over my head.

I've spent a good part of my middle age filling in my literary blanks by -- finally -- reading some the great classics. Even so, the ones (I belatedly read) which remain glued to my mind like fat flies on a slice of bread and jam are novels like Bram Stoker's Dracula. The florid prose of Austen work best, for me, in movie form, and I continue to have no urge to read them in the original.

I still feel ashamed that I ducked out of a school assignment to read Moby Dick. I didn't but still passed the test. I'd guest Moby D was a whale, and having read the opening: "Call me Ahab", and got no further I was more than prepared to use my imagination to guess the right answers. Well, that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it. ;)
 
Definitely my mother. :smiley:

I was always an avid reader as a child and loved getting my hands on new books to read. While in elementary school, 4th grade I believe, I was fascinated with fantasy works and, for a school assignment, chose Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. While I loved it, school officials most definitely did not.

They objected that the material was not appropriate for somebody my age and that I would need to limit my reading materials to school approved selections only. The problem for me with that edict was that the school approved selections were along the lines of basically picture books and simplistic titles. I objected; they called my Mom in.

My Mom's position was, essentially, that not only was I encouraged to read anything I wanted to but that it was up to the school to accommodate my reading comprehension level and not the other way around. Go, Mom! :D

With that matter settled I was given leeway in my selections and at times would have discussions with my teachers on their own personal reading recommendations and thoughts on the material.

So, there you go, I can trace my love of the written word back to my Mom and JRR Tolkien. :coffee:
 
With your own kids, do you find yourself using the same methods to encourage them?
I haven't needed to so far. Shannon is already an avid bookworm and asks me about words. The others are in a variety of stages with words - but they all have shown a huge interests in books, stories and words.
 
My dad got me started on his collection of Golden Age sci-fi when I was very young: Asimov, Heinlein, Burroughs, van Vogt, Wyndam etc. Still love that old stuff to this day, fifty-odd years later.
 
Honestly, I blame Television for my love of reading. When I was young, my parents didn't buy a television until I was in high school. Because of that, when it was rainy, I'd read. (Also when it wasn't rainy.)
Naturally I was encouraged by my parents, but it was the lack of a television that did it.
 
My grandfather was a huge influence on me too. He got me my copy of Tom Sawyer when I was two. My mom and dad both love to read, and that helped tremendously. I grew up in a small town, with some fantastic librarians who were thrilled that a kid liked to read, and I could talk to them for hours.
 
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