The link above is for the "What Book Got You Hooked?" contest.
"What Book Got You Hooked?" invites readers everywhere to celebrate unforgettable books from childhood and help provide new books to the children who need them most. First Book asks visitors to share the memory of the books that made them readers and then vote for the state to receive 50,000 new books from First Book, helping to get more kids hooked on reading."
For me, it was Freaky Friday. I kid you not. I remember reading that book cover to cover at least a dozen times. I read it out loud to my parents, I harassed my friends on the playground. I was in love with that book. That book had magic in it. That book changed my life. There have been other books along the way. There was Eloise in the very beginning, and Wuthering Heights a little later. But Freaky Friday was the one that snagged me, that grabbed me by the navel and said, "look, you're a reader now."
I can't remember enough of it to know what it was about that book that made it the one. Like so much of life I'm sure it was timing, that it got placed into my hands at the very moment I was ready. I just know that when I finished it for the first time I felt like a reader. I felt like I had been let in on a gigantic secret, the way falling in love for the first time feels like no one, anywhere, has ever felt what you are feeling. I also remember saying those famous words out loud, standing in my parent's bedroom, book is hand: "I wish it didn't have to end."
What book got you hooked? Please, share with us!
Charlotte's Web. I was five years old and I was so proud that I could read a chapter book--sans pictures--all by myself! Plus, the tale is absolutely timeless and charming.
ReplyDeleteMine was "Old Man and the Sea." I knew, even at a young age, that the struggle was for more than the conquering of a fish. Now as a student of psychology as I wrestle with my own soul and engage with others on their existential journeys, I can appreciate the story even more. The mark of great book is one whose story evolves as one's life does.
ReplyDelete