Were you an avid reader as a child?

[lllll]

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[Annie Laurie]

Yes, always. Some of my earliest memories are of books I was reading. I would count down to the end of the school day because I was so eager to get home and finish a book I was reading.

 

ETA: I've always been an introvert and sometimes during summer break I would need to get away from my friends for awhile so I'd just stay home and do nothing but read for several days. They could never understand why I wanted to do that. And I've always read at bedtime, for as long as I can remember, and usually can't fall asleep without reading for awhile first.

[Mom22ns]

I was an avid reader until I went to college. There assigned reading took the place of reading by choice. I didn't redevelop my passion for reading for years after that.

 

My oldest has been an avid reader, but now he is an even more avid writer. I have to stop him from writing so he will sleep and find him with a laptop under the covers working on a novel as often as not.

 

My youngest reads, but not with any passion. It is just something to do when she is bored.

[Robin M]

Totally! Avid reader since learned in 1st grade. Weekly trips to the library devouring as many books as I could. Once got a job and had the money, at the book store every weekend. It's my one vice and my overflowing bookshelves are a testament to that. Hubby only reads non fiction and son currently into comic books - sonic. At least they are reading.

[Ellesmere]

Yes, I read a lot. One of my biggest disappointments as a child was discovering I would get car sick every time I tried to read in the car.

 

I still love to read and my oldest, so far, is really into books. Both kids are at home at the library and our local bookstore. It's not something I push, but we have books everywhere. My mom was just here telling me how happy she was to see our house full of good books and to have the kids chasing her down to read to them.

 

Also, I always remember overhearing my dad telling someone that he hoped books would bring me to the places he wished he could afford to take us and it pleased him that I loved to read. He isn't a huge reader himself, but always encouraged my mom to take me to the bookstore and the library. It will be interesting to see how our youngest is about reading, having a totally different personality and energy level than I ever did. But our youngest is no less eager to be read to, as long as there's been plenty of time to run around, too.

[kubiac]

Reading made me very happy as a child.

 

I had an insatiable appetite for books, and I became fairly independent early on so that I could walk to our local branch, and then later take the bus to the slightly larger library in another city down the way.

[Chris in VA]

Yes. I remember being somewhat angry at my mom because she wanted me to go out and play, and I wanted to read. I remember thinking, "Geez, all the time I'm told in school how wonderful it is to read, and here I am reading, and all Mom can do is complain about it, like I'm doing something wrong! Is there NO pleasing this woman?"

[VeganCupcake]

Yes! I loved (and still love) reading! My dad used to complain that we would go on these huge family vacations and all we kids would do was read in the car without looking at anything around us. My brothers don't read quite so much anymore, but my sister still does.

 

My DD loves looking at books. She will look at them for hours in her room, and she's only 3.5 and can't read yet.

[tex-mex]

Oh most definitely! :D

 

Loved the public library and Summer Reading programs as a kid. I'd be the type of get lost in a pile of books all summer long. My mother was a ps night time custodian and I would love to accompany her to read the textbooks or school library selections.

Edited June 7, 2012 by tex-mex

[Maverick_Mom]

I liked books better than I liked people. ;)

[Donna]

Yep...the town librarian knew me by name and saved new books for me to read. I read just about every book in our little town library.

[Dustybug]

Absolutely. It was my way of escaping the real live bad things that were going on in my actual world. We lived in the middle of nowhere and didn't have a car, so I never went to the public library, but my mom bought me books when she could and I checked them out regularly from the school library.

 

When I was 13, we moved to a city and while we still didn't have a car and there wasn't (at the time) public transportation other than small family owned taxi companies, there was a bookmobile that came into our apartment complex and I LOVED it!

[Word Nerd]

Yes. Sometimes my mom would make me stop reading and go outside to play. She's a reader too, but she didn't think I was active enough...and that was true.

[Kirch]

Yep. That was pretty much the only thing I ever got in trouble for in grade school--reading a book in my desk when I was supposed to be doing something else. And I'd get in trouble at home for reading by the light of the streetlight outside my window when I was supposed to be sleeping. :D

[KatieJ]

Yes! I read everything I could get my hands on! I used to wish for school to start so I could get back to the library. I would win awards for having read the most books during a school year. I read Little House in teh big woods in first grade. It was one of the first books I checked out after I could read. I remember it well!

I am not an engineer, but I used to wonder if there was a way to prop up a book on the vacumn cleaning so I could read while I was vacumning! I dind't have a lamp in my room, but I would leave the curtain open and read by the moonlight or later on a street light maybe.

[CyndiLJ]

I actually know almost no homeschooling moms/dads who are the actual teaching parent and who were not total bookworms as kids. It's almost like a pre-requisite!

 

I kid you not, my mom was called by our school one day and told that she needed to get me to do more than read because I wouldn't play during recess and ONLY wanted to read. This was in 2nd grade. I was reading at a college level by 3rd and they had me tutoring the ESL kids because they honestly didn't know what else to do with me. In 4th grade I read "Roots" because I couldn't stay up late enough to watch it on TV. All 5 of our kids are avid readers today, and library day once a week means checking out about 120 books or so. Our librarian cracked up as 3 of the kids were on the floor reading while the other 2 were checking out their books, and she said "We love having you guys here, it is great to see kids who can't even wait to get out of the library to read!"

 

Cindy

[Seeking Squirrels]

Yes! I used to get in trouble in school for reading. It completely skipped my brother, he's read *maybe* 5 books his entire life. DD definitely has the reading bug! :)

[kricau]

I am with Liz CA. I use to read with a flashlight under the covers (after "light out") LOL

I can't wait for my daughter (7 yrs) to start getting really into reading. She is just starting to pick out books and read for ahwile, without being told to ;)

[Heather in Neverland]

I was a voracious reader as a child and still am. My oldest doesn't love reading but he will read now and then. My youngest ds loves reading. I hope dd will be a book lover!

[ScoutTN]

For sure! In the summer I was either in the pool or at the library.

I remember staying up late with a flashlight to read in bed under the covers.

And staying up almost all night at the beach reading LOTR for the first time.

And getting weekly reader book orders at school.

Every year my dad gave me really good books in hardback for my birthday and Christmas. I loved the day after Christmas so I could lie on a sofa and read all day!

[momtoamiracle]

yes. I took a book with me wherever I go. Wait, I still do!

 

 

my sisters and mom were the same way, as was my grandmother. My dh is a reader as well as his sisters and mother.

 

 

hopefully my son will inherit the tendency. He loves listening to books being read.

 

 

ETA - I used to sneak in the closet and read half the night...

[Joani]

I was also a sneaky night-time reader. :D

 

I remember reading in class in 5th grade and having my teacher confiscate my books. :glare: Then I resorted to sneaking into the library at recess instead of going out to the playground. My sister did the same thing.

 

My two older kids are avid readers and my 7 year old is getting there.

[dands]

English was a second language in middle school for me. The people i grew up with never took me to the library. So i hated those book reports in high school and would not pick up a book for fun either in english or spanish. If you had told me, there would be homeschool for my kids i probably would have changed my attitude. It has been a weakness i have had to work with since i got married. I did not want this for my children as i saw how i short changed myself. However, all my 5 older kids are bookworms. We are surrounded with books and order books from the library weekly.

[eaglei]

I devoured books to the point of reading under the covers with a flashlight and hiding from the rest of the family (in the cherry trees) so I would be undisturbed and couldn't be summoned for chores.

 

The bolded part - me too. I especially got in trouble for this when I was sick (flu, measles, chicken pox) - didn't stop me, though . . . I've been known to use the flashlight a few times in my adult life when I just HAD to finish the chapter (or book . . .) and the overhead light was disturbing dh :D

 

Oh, yes. There was NEVER enough time in a day for reading.:)

 

Amen! You said it! And there STILL isn't enough time in the day for reading!

 

I liked books better than I liked people. ;)

 

I hear ya . . .

 

Absolutely. It was my way of escaping the real live bad things that were going on in my actual world. We lived in the middle of nowhere and didn't have a car, so I never went to the public library, but my mom bought me books when she could and I checked them out regularly from the school library.

 

When I was 13, we moved to a city and while we still didn't have a car and there wasn't (at the time) public transportation other than small family owned taxi companies, there was a bookmobile that came into our apartment complex and I LOVED it!

 

The bolded part - I can relate . . .

 

Yes. Sometimes my mom would make me stop reading and go outside to play. She's a reader too, but she didn't think I was active enough...and that was true.

 

Yep - on all points you mentioned . . .

 

I was also a sneaky night-time reader. :)

 

Me too. A scrawny kid under a huge comforter hides rather well - but my mother STILL knew there was a flashlight under there and me with my nose in a book . . .

 

I can't imagine a life without reading! I am so thankful that dh and ds are readers! Everywhere we go, we each take a book (or two). It still surprises me when people stop us to comment, saying we are doing such a great and wonderful thing by reading a book - and it puzzles me when people express shock at seeing a family reading. Well, what else do you do when you're waiting for your appointment to begin, or your order to arrive, or the program to begin, or the intermission to end, or - or - or ??? Equally amazing is how much reading you can accomplish while your spouse or child is pumping gas, or while you're stirring the homemade jelly cooking on the stove, or in place of watching tv or during the commercials if watching a program, etc., etc., etc.

 

In answer to the original question, I was definitely an avid reader as a child. One very special memory of mine (for several reasons) was vacation time at my aunt's house in the summer. There, I could stay up WAY late, with the light ON, and read to my hearts' content!

[Mrs Mungo]

I was. I majored in literature. I am still an avid reader. I read 2-5 books/week, depending upon their size and subject matter. I recently decided to read the rest of Christopher Moore's books (I had read 2 of them). It took me a week. A big history book might take almost a week, plus there will be a fun read or re-read thrown in there.

[Lizzie in Ma]

:iagree: That used to drive my mom crazy!

 

We had a little small-town library 5 miles away from us when I was growing up. We'd each get 10-15 books out at a time, with the librarian rationing us on series. ("No more than 5 from one series, now.") We never had a huge problem with late fees - I think the total check-out allowance was small and we'd burn through all the books so fast that we'd have to have them back each week in order to get more out.

 

I remember reading Ben Hur on the bus in 4th grade, so proud of myself that I was reading a "big book." I always read on the 45-60 minute schoolbus ride when it was light enough. When I got to high school, it would sometimes be one of the few times that I could read fun stuff instead of homework. I was unhappy when my parents decided my dad would drive me to school instead of riding the bus (it was supposed to be father-daughter time) because I knew I would lose that reading time.

 

My mom took my book away once when I wasn't getting my chores done. (It was Marguerite Henry's King of the Wind - I still remember!) After that she only had to threaten such a punishment for me to hop to them. :)

 

I love to glance around the living room now and see dh, myself, and all three dd reading/looking at books. Such a feeling of kinship! (Such blessed, positive silence!! :D)

 

Mama Anna

 

I LOVED King of the Wind and all her books. :D

[Lizzie in Ma]

I am with Liz CA. I use to read with a flashlight under the covers (after "light out") LOL

I can't wait for my daughter (7 yrs) to start getting really into reading. She is just starting to pick out books and read for ahwile, without being told to ;)

 

I'd forgotten about doing that! Yes! Always. My dh actually used to do that with a candle!! I can't believe he never set the place on fire.

[Lizzie in Ma]

I love this thread. :D

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

Yep. My mom was big on the library. She took us usually once a week, and we'd spend a good, long time in there. We'd all come home with a huge stack of books.

 

Some of my best memories from childhood are actually when I would get sick. My mom would put sheets on the couch, pile up our pillows, cover us up and then go to the library and bring a stack of books for us to read on the couch. I didn't mind being sick if I could lie there all day reading! And since my mom would pick out the books, there were always some neat surprises in the stack.

[FaithManor]

I did two things as a child. Practice the piano and read. I did them for hours, and hours, and hours on end.

 

My parents would buy a book for me in the city, and I'd have 100 pages read 60 miles later. I was never taught any kind of speed reading skill, however when I was tested as a 9th grader, it turned out that I could read 1350 words per minute with 98% reading comprehension. So, books just did not last long. They still don't. Dh has never quite gotten over this. He makes this face :001_huh: everytime we go into Barnes and Nobles because he knows the book will be done the next day. He's been trying to get me to read an unabridged Three Musketeers or County of Monte Cristo for years so, as he puts it, "There s a small chance that the book will last more than 24 hrs.!" Snicker, snicker....

 

DD inherited this gene and so did the middle boy. Eldest son reads very, very well, but doesn't read for pleasure that much...but, he'll make mincemeat of a computer programming manual at a record pace. Youngest reads for pleasure, however he isn't insatiable in the way dd, other ds, and myself are.

 

I get it from my dad. He's just as ridiculous with books. My brother and sister both read for pleasure and read at a pretty good clip, but they still don't quite "guzzle books" (as my sister puts it) like dad and I do!

 

Dh NEVER reads for pleasure. But, he's listened to a huge number of novels, technical books, and scientific tomes on audiobook. He says he really did very little reading outside of what was required as a child.

 

Faith