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My Life as an Early Reader. By Sarah Caffarello. Preschool Years. Based on what my parents told me, I was read to nearly every night. I remember sitting on the sofa with my brother and sister and listening to stories by Richard Scarry and Jan and Stan Berenstain . Preschool Favorites.
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My Life as an Early Reader By Sarah Caffarello
Preschool Years • Based on what my parents told me, I was read to nearly every night. I remember sitting on the sofa with my brother and sister and listening to stories by Richard Scarry and Jan and Stan Berenstain.
Preschool Favorites These were two of my favorites. We had many Little Golden Books at home, and I have fond memories of many of them. My parents still bring Busy Timmy to read to my 4 year old son when they visit us!
Mad Dash for Amelia Bedelia This is how I would describe my elementary library experience! My mom introduced me to this lively characterin second grade. I thought she was hilarious! I particularly remember the book in which Amelia was told to “pitch the tent,” and she threw it into the bushes. This cracked me up! So, each week when we’d go to the school library, I’d make a beeline for the Amelia Bedelia section. I couldn’t wait to get a new one!
Elementary Years My parents tell me I was “reading” before I entered kindergarten. However, the love of reading never blossomed beyond picture books. I believe it was because the texts we had in elementary school were really quite dull, and didn’t interest me at all. They came from a box. There was a page to read, and a worksheet to go with it… the ever popular SRA series. Yuck! I was always a good reader—just not an avid one. I had the skill, but not the will. Is it any wonder? I longed to be one of those girls who could just stay up in her bedroom for hours, engrossed in a book. I knew that’s what I should be doing. I tried The Secret Garden and The Hardy Boys. My younger sister read the Little House and Babysitter’s Club series. However, I just couldn’t “get into” them. Unfortunately, I never found a series, or even 1 book that I loved.
Memorable Read Alouds Beloware two books I remember my teacher reading aloud to the class. I always enjoyed listening to them, but I never checked them out of the library on my own. I don’t remember a teacher saying, “If you like this, then you might like…” It’s unfortunate because these might have been two series I could’ve “gotten into.”
A Love of Children’s Literature… developed in adulthood! It wasn’t until I started teaching that I truly began to LOVE reading. When I taught first grade, I could be found in the picture book section of the bookstore or library reading for an hour or more. When I began teaching 4th grade, I had to convince myself to read a book more than 20 pages long! But, after reading Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech, and Loser by Jerry Spinelli, I was hooked. And finally, after hearing Dr. Steven Layne speak, and reading his book, I knew I needed to read more in order to encourage my students to read more. And the rest is history…