post for first blog

Growing up, reading was always a part of my life. During summer break, I can remember riding my bike with my sister and dad or other kids in my neighborhood to the local library. Since children were out of school, the library always had activities going on during the day that helped keep young children interested in reading. The library would have this competition every summer where you got a game board and for every book you read you received a piece to the puzzle. After certain levels were complete you would receive small little prizes like gum, or jacks and once you complete the whole game board there was a big prize waiting at the end, like movie passes or a book. It was during the reading competition where I first became “hooked” on a series of books. Once I read the first Babysitters Club book, I wanted to read the rest. I remember always begging my dad to ride up to the library with me so I could get the next book in the series. That summer I read every book in the Babysitters Club and finished my game board.

During my elementary years in school I was always interested in reading. I loved reading books in series, that way the adventure did not end so soon. Every Wednesday at school we had reading time. We were given thirty minutes where we had to put down all our school work and read a book of our choice. Some kids in my class did not like this time, but I was always eager to read more in my book. Also at my elementary school we had a program called accelerated reader. In this program we had to earn so many points a semester. To earn points we could read a book of our choice and then take a ten question multiple choice tests on the computer. Books were worth different points; easier ones were one or two points, while longer chapter books were ten to twelve points each. These two programs at school really kept me reading during my elementary years.

During High School, I still had the program where we read on a certain day of the week for thirty minutes. We also had a summer reading books that were chosen by the school. These two programs helped me to stay interested during High School. Still today I enjoy reading when I get the chance. This summer I had the time to read a couple of books. I hope that throughout college and the rest of my adult years I will have the opportunity to continue to read and enjoy books.