My earliest memories of literacy consist of me as a typical little sister. As the youngest, I would follow my sister and her friends around trying to be like “the big girls” as my mom would say. I recall one time in particular where my interest in following my sister and her friends, turned into a hobby I came to love…reading.
It was a warm day and we were getting ready to go outside when we heard the doorbell ring. When my mom answered the door, we saw that it was my Aunt Bethany and her son Jay. After exchanging our greetings, we noticed Jay carrying a box that looked heavy. My aunt informed us that the box was full of books that my cousins no longer read and she wanted to give them away to us. Later that evening my sister and I (as if I was ever far behind) opened the box and scoured the books. I was unfamiliar with many of the titles; my sister, on the other hand, was not. “Ooooh The Baby Sitters Club!” she exclaimed holding up a book whose title was displayed in the image of children’s building blocks. Seeing her excitement made me want to become excited about a book as well. I searched and searched and searched; however, to my chagrin I didn’t find anything that made me scream with glee like my sister had. I was jealous. I watched her walk around the house carrying book and discussing chapters with her friends! I was devastated that I couldn’t fit in with “the big girls” since I had no understanding of the book or the entire series for that matter.
The next day, I went back to what everyone in the house referred to as “the book box”, for I was determined to find a book that allowed me to walk around like “the big girls”. After almost an hour of searching, and accidentally ripping the handles of the box, I had found it. I had found my book. Ghosts Beneath Our Feet by Betty Ren Wright was my favorite book as a child and still is today. Wright’s book took me on a whirlwind of emotions and made me want to read more books like it. I was so consumed with trying to be like my sister and her friends that I accidentally fell in love with mystery and suspense fiction novels. I fell in love with reading. In my humble opinion, this was the BEST accident ever!
