Unfiltered Story #268437

This is really my mother’s story. Reading “clicked” for me the summer between kindergarten and first grade, and she tells me that I went from picture books to easy chapter books in practically a week. I read through all of the learning-to-read books in the house and became obsessed with a chapter book series to the point where I could actually give the author’s full name, something I hadn’t yet been able to do, and say which books were my favorite. In short, I am a pint-sized bookworm.

After my first day of first grade, I’m frustrated and nearly in tears when she picks me up from school. When she asks what’s wrong, she manages to figure out that I’m upset because when my teacher took my class to the library, she wouldn’t let me check out a chapter book, and instead steered me towards the picture books that all the other first-graders were picking from, even though I kept asking her why I couldn’t read the chapter book instead.

My mother comforts me while swallowing laughter and promises me that I can read at home. The teacher quickly figured out that this very tiny first-grader could actually handle some of the harder stuff and she had to tell me that no, I could not bring my book outside for recess. I am a book-lover to this day, and am now glad to be able to read books at any difficulty I like.