My dad and great-grandparents, who started my love of reading with Highlights magazines, Archie comics and evening obituary readings to my great-grandma lol
I would have to agree with this, grew up in a small town before internet, had no cable where I lived so it was one of the only things I had access to and the library was free!
lol!! specially on long summer holidays when all of your friends are visiting there grandparents village and you are stuck at home, thats what you do… which gradually becomes a habit <3
My best friend in high school introduced me to the first series of books that kept me interested. Stopped reading after high school then my Nanny helped me find some books that brought me back.
My parents….always saw them reading, especially in the evening….don’t remember learning how to read–I just did–was already reading by 1st grade and was bored with what they were doing at school…..
My Elementary School Librarian!!! She Made That Room—-So Excitin’ And Invitin’!!! I LOVED!!! Library Days!!! Got To Be A “ Helper” In 6th!!! Grade!!! LOL!!! Now I Am Still A 69 Year Old Lover Of Books!!!
My dad! He always read to me, then taught me to read when I was 4 (out of my sister’s 3rd grade science book). He’s 98, and still the smartest person I’ve ever known!
I just loved library when I was in primary school. And I will never forget the day at school that little 8 year old me learnt about the Boy Who Lived and the rest is history.
My Mom and Nana. I still have the first book they taught me to read. Do you all know the poem that ends “richer than me, they could never be, I had a Mom who read to me”?
Probably my first grade and my fifth grade teachers. My fifth grade teacher would read to us at the end of the school day if everyone had been good that day and we loved it. You would think fifth graders wouldn’t like being read to but she picked great exciting books (little house books) and the pressure was off us, we could sit and relax and she read to us❤️
My 4th grade teacher. We had free time where could listen to records but only if we completed a certain amount of these things called SRA reader cards. There was this one record I loved to listen to. So he goes, “Mary, the more of those cards you read the more you can listen to that record” so before I knew it I had read the whole box of them! It inspired my love of reading and also made me a very advanced one by the time I was in the 7th grade I was reading at a 12th grade level!
My mom. She was a veracious reader. Some of my greatest summer memories include Mom taking us to the “big” downtown library in Toledo, Ohio for our weekly visit and we would all come out with stacks of books.
My parents, who gave us each a book for Christmas. While my mom finished work, my sister and I waited in the library that was across the street from our school. It was like a treasure trove to me! When I was older mom was always reading.
My parents. Mom was better with picture books, which didn’t interest Dad. And Dad was great with the chapter books, he had different voices for different characters and really brought them to life. I had a hard time learning to read, but I was motivated to keep working on it because I knew from being read to how great books were.
My aunt. She raised me when I was little. She was a high school teacher and at the time, she was still single. My father was working out of town a lot and my mom followed him everywhere while she completed her studies. So my aunt raised me till I was about 5. During this time, she bought me books, told me her own version of the stories, read to me almost everyday after work. And she taught me the alphabets and basically she was my first teacher. She was my mother at one time…
I don’t really know as at that time I was the only reader in the family. However when my parents were in their seventies I introduced them to reading. I got my dad interested in reading westerns and my mom Nancy Drew then Amish books. My mom is now 88 and is still reading every day. My dad passed almost 4 years ago but was reading up til he passed.
I had a friend who was much elder to me during my 8th standard. He introduced me to book bu starting with TinTin, and all Richie rich, slowly to hardy boys and then to Robert Ludlum.. Trying to find him after 41 years.. Yet to find him.
Myself. People around me encouraged it, but I resisted it for a long time until it finally just resonated that a good book brings joy, makes you wiser.
My love of pizza for starters–Pizzahuts bookit program, I started reading to earn free pizza! Lol, all kidding aside I started reading frequently as an escape, because when I was a little girl my parents fought a lot. So I’d take a book and sit in my closet and read with the door cracked just enough to let the light in. I started reading because it was part of school requirements and I was a very good student for a long time.
My love of reading comes from going to daycare. When we would lay down for nap, the teacher would read novels to 3 and 4 year olds. I will always remember listening to the Narnia series. So glad they were so progressive 40+ years ago!
My dad. He couldn’t stand for me to be lazy in the summers when I was in junior and high school (during the 70’s). He put together a reading list for me to read during summer vacation. I had a Charles Dickens, John Steinbeck, Leon Uris, Mark Twain and Hemingway summer. After my sophomore and junior years, he had the Harvard freshman reading list that I could choose from. At the dinner table, he would discuss the books with me. I was so annoyed back then but it never dawned on me to refuse. Now I see it for the loving gift it was.
My parents, definitely: they would take turns when I was a child and read me stories every night, one in Italian and one in English. But I also had really good teachers in elementary school, who showed us that reading could be fun and not necessarily a chore, and encouraged us to read anything that caught our fancy.
Carolyn Keene and her Nancy Drew mysteries. I came from a home of non readers but at the age of 12 discovered one of her books in a department store. This began my love of books that has lasted over 6 decades.
Our small town Librarian. She always ask if I like a book and why. She would save me books and I would be the first to read them. I felt special. My mother didn’t read for pleasure but always took me to the library. She would sit outside and wait for me.
My mom gave credit to my grandfather, who she said read me the comics when I was a newborn. My parents both read, we had walls of books in the house, it just came naturally.
My first grade teacher Mrs. Davis, she would have us do reading time and she always had the best books. She would let us bring our favorite coffee mug to class and our favorite tea and she would make tea for all of us and let us read. On my birthday she gave me a huge book with all these stories in it. I still have it now as a 28 yr old woman lmao. She was an amazing teacher.
When I was pre-first grade (no kindergartens back then in Alabama) my brother 19 months than me and my aunt only 4 years older than me went off to school every morning leaving me to salve my hurt feelings at being left behind with Captain Kangaroo. The Captain read books on his show, and I knew I had to go to school to learn to read. So I guess it would be a combination of my lying brother and my lying aunt who told me it would be years and years before I would go to school and the need to want to read the books Captain Kangaroo read that made me cry thinking I would be almost grown before I ‘d learn the alphabet.
Myself. I didn’t love reading until college. I finally discovered books I truly enjoyed and wanted to read. Before that, reading was a chore that I didn’t enjoy.
My dad. He read to me A LOT as a child, and even wrote and illustrated a children’s book based on me. ? Shalock and the Cloud of Bad Dreams. I have it memorized still, and now read it to my children.
My grandmother, she’d read the newspaper every morning to my grandfather and I’d eagerly listen along, as I got older she would read parts of her murder mystery novels to me, I loved it. After long I’d be trading books with grams, and wait for the next book in series to read. I owe my love of books and reading to her.
Dad, and mom, but mostly dad, when i was a child he saw that i liked reading so he took me once a week to the bookstore it didn’t last long just a few months but it really kept me going. And now i try to read one book a week still, mom kept doing it after he stopped not every week tho, good times!
My 6th grade English teacher. Every Friday we would read “The Outsiders” and discuss it. I fell in love with that book. Been hooked on reading ever since, now 52.
My mother and my paternal grandmother. My mom loved to read herself took me to the library and to used bookstores. My grandma took me with her to work in her church library, and had compelling books I her house.
My parents. They were teachers and always brought home the discarded books from the library, bought me Alice in Wonderland, my first unabridged audiobook, (it was on vinyl) and read to me. I also had a fabulous elementary school librarian, Miss Bruno, who taught me the Dewy Decimal System and led me to books she thought I would enjoy.
Both my parents, a house full of books and growing up before cable TV and video games (although my daughter loves to read, too, even though she grew up with the latter).
P G Wodehouse…. he reaches every generation …. and the first story of P G’s was read to me as a child in a raining lunch break … a short story from a book of short stories…. The Man With Row Left Feet …. a story about a dog and burglars….. many years later I still remember …….
My Mother. She read to me every night before bed when I was little ? She would also take me to the public library and I was always so excited to go to the library.
My mom. She only has a 6th grade education but always read. Sure, most were cheesy romance novels, but nonetheless. Also, my dad always read the newspaper and magazines like National Geographic.
My father loved to read but at the time I would have been influenced by seeing him read he wasn’t reading. He had to put it lower on his priority list. He did read the paper everyday and my love of that definitely can from him. The kids in my neighborhood went to story hour at the library every week. Then my mother would read the books we checked out to us when we got home. So I credit my parents and a great librarian. My father read constantly after he retired until developing Macular degeneration. After that audiobooks were our best friends
To my bullies. The library was a safe spot since an adult was there. I was always there, hence why not read? So I began reading whilst hiding from my bullies.
Never really thought about it. I actually have no idea. My mom hated to see me read. I would have to hide and read. But I love the library and always have.
My Mom. I remember her reading to us at night-books like Peter Pan and Wendy and Alice in Wonderland. In addition, both of our parents were well-educated avid readers who encouraged our love of books.
My mom took us to the library on a regular basis starting from when I was really little. It was so empowering to choose my own books. I still remember the smell of the library and those books. Magic.
My sister (two years older than me). I wanted to do everything she did and she read constantly. She’s the one who introduced me to Anne McCaffrey, Isaac Asimov, Leon Uris, James Mitchener, historical fiction, Newberry award winners, and so much more.
My Mom and Dad. My Dad had a big bookshelf and was always reading. My mom and dad both read to me when I was little and my mom always took me to the library. My dad bought me books and even when I was able to read he would read the same book and we would talk about it. He I even bought me a kindle last year as an adult. 🙂
My dad. He read to me, and taught me to read to him. By the time I started school, I loved reading, but back in the 50’s, that wasn’t a good thing. So we kept it a secret… reading has always been my …”other” life.
…as a kindergartener and first grader it was most important to read as everyone else. Everyone else was learning the alphabet. “See spot run” was not hard for me to “sound out”, but it was for a lot of students.
Meanwhile, at home I was reading Grimm’s fairy tales.
@Jes i didn’t care what the other kids thought. I was perfectly happy, two months into first grade, to do the bible reading on parents’ day. ( hard to believe we had bible readings in public schools back then, but we did!)
i didn’t care either, lol, cause it’s not like you can stop reading once you know how to read, lol! But I do remember getting bullied by other children, because I could read.
I remember I read a lot of evenings at home, the great stories in the bible, like Ruth, and Judith, Deborah and Queen Esther… (but I alway thought of them as great stories…)
My mother, without question. From her I got my love of reading, my love of British fiction (most of my early books were by English authors), my enjoyment of mysteries, my habit of buying books at used book sales… and so on. Although most of my current books wouldn’t be to her taste, I definitely built on the foundation she provided.
My mom, & The Musser Public Library in Muscatine, IA, where we lived when I learned to read. My goal was to read every book they had, but we moved before I was done.
Family friend who started readimg the Harry potter books to me and left me to finish in the middle of three. And my parents amd first grade teacher who got me to a person. To help with my comprehension so i dont rememeber a time i hated reading
My mom. She used to read Little Golden Books to me until she got bored. Then she read from her romance magazines. She said I didn’t care as long as she was reading. I was less than a year old.
My dad. He was an English teacher and read to us every night. My mom always read lots of books too but it’s my dad for sure. Even after I moved across the country he would randomly order me books he thought I would like and not tell me so I would get these wonderful surprise books in the mail. And whenever he went away when we were young he would always bring us each back a book.
1) my mom, who took me to the public library weekly, 2) the public library’s summer reading program, 3) the culture of my state, which valued reading highly, always achieving education results in the top five in the nation, 4) My school district and the policy makers who devoted one full year of 7th grade language arts to reading books with a fabulous teacher, Mrs. Sterling. It takes a village and their taxes.
Visiting Hemingway house and playing with the cats in Key West tourist attraction. We visited the house several times when I was a child that needed to know what kind of man would like so many ? cats. I read the smallest book, Old man and the Sea. I was not a young girl yet, the old man. I felt such empathy and hope. That was enough to want to read the classics and embrace the characters.
My mother. She read to me every night when I was small, and we took turns reading to each other as I got older. She also made sure I got my own library card the day after my 5th birthday.
My Gram always had a book in her hand and I often wondered as a child how she could lay in bed all day reading until I tried and instantly fell in love❤
I would like to thank God foremost. My parents bought books for my sibling and I from early o’clock and my mother took us to book related activities such as a visit to Logos Hope. My first primary school also played a role encouraging silent reading time. (My thanks speech??).
My mom, who took us to the library every week all summer long. We could pick out whatever we wanted to read and if we wanted more then one book it was fine. She loved to read too! We were always read to as children too and read books to them when we learned to read!
We had a mobile library van that came to where we lived. The librarians used to let me have 6 books per week even though children were only supposed to borrow 3, so I guess thank you to those librarians whose names I never knew. ❤️
My grandmas, one constantly read to me before I could read and then was the one to always buy us books and take us to the library, my other always had a new book for me when they picked me up and our fun trips were to Barnes and Noble! ❤️ Now my little boy loves to read and loves finding now books as well, now to get my twins started early!
My mother. She enjoyed reading. I have fond memories of her taking a lunch break from housecleaning and sitting at the kitchen table reading while she ate. She also took us to the library at an early age. The library was magical to me.
I give my mother a ton of credit, because we always had books in our home and moreover, she was an avid reader and strong supporter of higher education for all women.It was because of her, I was able to attend college ( full scholarship) in Chicago and eventually be awarded a BS, MS and PhD in Chemistry from a major university.
I also thank the many very kind and hard working librarians in the Chicago public librarles who helped me find stimulating and educational books throughout my childhood, high school and college years growing up in Chicago.
I can’t give the Chicago public libraries enough credit or praise for the important services these facilities provide to all Chicago residents but most importantly to folks and children living in need of social and economic support. Books and libraries offer knowledge but as importantly they offer children , who are living often in poverty, hope and a means to attain knowledge and perhaps a better way of life.
I have never forgotten the many hours I spent in these libraries and I never will. They are among my most sacred childhood memories.
Both my mother and father. My dad read to me every night, and my mother talked with me about books, took me to the library at an early age, and modeled reading.
I credit a trip to a public library with my Dad when I was about 8 or 9 years old. My Dad wasnt a big reader but he went for books on research for I dont remember what. When I walked through the door, I swear, the feeling that came over me was surreal. It felt like “home” is the only way to describe it. I have loved books from that moment on. True story. ?
My mom. She took my brother and me to the library weekly every summer. She wasn’t an avid reader, didn’t speak much about reading or provide many books at our home otherwise, but she created a joy filled habit.
My mom – she was always reading. As a retired teacher, I know that kids whose parents read, read themselves. My three-year-old grandson never sees his parents reading….it worries me….so I do my best to read around him and to him.
My kids have had books since they were born…I read all the time, their dad doesn’t, I read to them all the time actually my oldest learned to read when she was 4…she reads the other two not so much….go figure
Still remember my mom taking me to the Charles H. Taylor Public Library to get my first library card. It was cardboard with a tiny metal plate with my three digit number. I can still visualize the children’s room 50+ years later. I remember the Scholastic Book Club at school and getting to buy two books; I remember my father bringing me home a book on the brain when I was about 8 years old which I swear piqued my interest in psychology (my undergrad and grad school focus) and the hard cover book series in my room. My mother and grandmother were teachers, so reading was a way to know the world. I don’t read nearly as much as I’d like, but realize I read way more than many folks do.
My mom. She read to me when I was little and always had a book in her hand. By the time I was 12 I was reading some of the same books she was. Remembered reading The Source by James Mitchener because she had.
My mother. She was raised by an abusive mother and found books to be her way out. she started teaching me to read when I was three or four and books were standard gifts during all of our childhood. She died and left many books but all of us are reluctant to take them from her shelves…. it would be too final. My brother collects books as do I and we can certainly put it all back on Mom. My other siblings love books but do not read in the fashion my brother Bill and I read. My daughter had a book shower when she married and she married a reader. We are on our fourth generation of book lovers… my grandchildren love reading time more than any other. I recently gave them a book that my Mom had as a child… it is a mother goose edition from the late 1920’s.
Myself. I’ve always been a reader. But, I remember asking my Mom what books she read and liked. I will never forget…”Leave Her to Heaven” & “My Brother’s Keeper”
My second grade teacher Ms, Dodson from Sarepta, LA. She would read The Secret Garden to the class every afternoon. I was hooked. I’m now 70 years old and still reading.
Stephen King ? I lived with my father growing up and he couldn’t read or write that well, I only saw my mother one day a week and she never had a book in her hands. One day when I was about 8 I found carrie by Stephen King on a shelf in the living room, my father said it was one of 3 books he’d managed to read all the way through and he told me I couldn’t read it until I was older. So curiosity got the better of me and I started reading it at the age of 8 and my love for books grew and grew. Now I own more books than I think I can possibly read in my lifetime ?
My grandmother. I have fond memories of going to my grandma’s house and each visit she would share books she’d found at yard sales She also kept a copy of “Where the Sidewalk Ends” out and it was always a favorite at her house. There were and still are piles of books on every surface so she set quite the example. Just last week I went for another visit and she passed on a few books she’d finished and loved.
My mom and my dad. They both loved reading. Also we took crazy long road trips in the summer. We live in Las Vegas and we would start our drive the day after school let out and we would drive to GA, and FL then to NY…we have family in those states. If you didn’t read that trip would take a lifetime but reading helped pass the hours spent in the car. I learned to love to read and my mom always packed us several books and comics to pass time.
Both parents. We akways had National Geographics laying around. Then I just started going to the library and reading all the Jr. Readers about historical figures.
My mom and my grandma are both readers themselves so maybe it’s genetic, but I feel like my dad deserves some credit too. Even though he hates to read and has never enjoyed it, he always made the time to read to me.
My mother, for taking me to the library as a child and instilling that love in me. We also had various volumes of reference books at home (encyclopedias, nature, religious, etc.) and I remember learning my alphabet early, from always looking at the letters on the spines. Not to mention, reading the actual reference books.
My wife. And now she doesn’t do it.
My grandmother — an ex-teacher who taught me to read at two and a half, and who will still talk to me about books for hours
My 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Rountree
Probably my Mum… although my brother did read me ‘Where do I come from?’ When I was 3! I was fascinated in books!!!?
My parents. They read to me a LOT as a child and our house always had a lot of books.
My dad. He’s also an avid reader and he’s always encouraged me to read.
My parents. I wanted to learn how to read because I saw them reading and they read to me.
My mom. She is a writer and a book lover. She always encouraged me to read. We share a love of books together and share our books to this day 🙂
100% my parents.
My parents
My parents and my brother, who taught me how to read.
My Mom ❤
My mom and dad
My dad and great-grandparents, who started my love of reading with Highlights magazines, Archie comics and evening obituary readings to my great-grandma lol
My mom.
boredom -_-
I would have to agree with this, grew up in a small town before internet, had no cable where I lived so it was one of the only things I had access to and the library was free!
lol!! specially on long summer holidays when all of your friends are visiting there grandparents village and you are stuck at home, thats what you do… which gradually becomes a habit <3
My mum and grandmother
Self
Mister Rogers / Reading Rainbow
My sister – @Joann
Wow! Thanks!
My Dad and Grandfather
My mom
My best friend in high school introduced me to the first series of books that kept me interested. Stopped reading after high school then my Nanny helped me find some books that brought me back.
What was the series?
@Barbara the one in high school was Crank by Ellen Hopkins. Perfect for a young Adult.
Me, myself, and I.
My parents….always saw them reading, especially in the evening….don’t remember learning how to read–I just did–was already reading by 1st grade and was bored with what they were doing at school…..
Both my parents were always reading so naturally I got into the habit too. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for my kids. ?
My mom ❤️
J.K. ROWLING
My dad.He loved books.
My dad.
My mom and my grandad
My parents
my mother. she has always imbued a love of reading on me. even if we didn’t always have the same genre interests
My mom!
My mom!
My mom!
Mom
My Elementary School Librarian!!! She Made That Room—-So Excitin’ And Invitin’!!! I LOVED!!! Library Days!!! Got To Be A “ Helper” In 6th!!! Grade!!! LOL!!! Now I Am Still A 69 Year Old Lover Of Books!!!
My elementary school teacher
My dad, he wasn’t a reader himself but he made a point to take us to the library and read to us on a regular basis
School
My mom, my uncle and my librarian when I was a kid! ?
Mary Holmes, librarian extraordinaire! As well as Mrs. Gilman, my 3rd and 4th grade teacher!!
Everyone who writes good books.
Mom and my English teacher from senior year of high school
My dad! He always read to me, then taught me to read when I was 4 (out of my sister’s 3rd grade science book). He’s 98, and still the smartest person I’ve ever known!
My father. RIP ??
My Mom and teachers.
Alexander Dumas
Grandpa
I just loved library when I was in primary school. And I will never forget the day at school that little 8 year old me learnt about the Boy Who Lived and the rest is history.
My sister
I credit my mother’s friend who loaned me dozens of Nancy Drew books when I was in elementary school. I devoured those ? books one after the other.
My elementary school Librarian who sparked my love of reading (I could not thank her enough) and my parents for endless bedtime stories.
My paternal grandfather
My parents. They were always reading.
My Mam, always loads of books lying around, I read all the Enid Blyton books she read as a kid
My mom
My Grandy xx
My Mom and Nana. I still have the first book they taught me to read. Do you all know the poem that ends “richer than me, they could never be, I had a Mom who read to me”?
my Aunt @Becky
my mom
Def my mama! She was a book worm too;)
College Professor
My Dad….Always Reading Stories And Creating New Ones
Mom
Mom, but I also had some great teachers along the way.
Being a constantly ill loner as a child
The authors
My aunt.
My mom. She taught me to read when I was 3 and I am forever grateful.
My mom.
My beloved mother.
My dad. He was a librarian when I was little 🙂
I am the only reader to n my family
Probably my first grade and my fifth grade teachers. My fifth grade teacher would read to us at the end of the school day if everyone had been good that day and we loved it. You would think fifth graders wouldn’t like being read to but she picked great exciting books (little house books) and the pressure was off us, we could sit and relax and she read to us❤️
My 4th grade teacher. We had free time where could listen to records but only if we completed a certain amount of these things called SRA reader cards. There was this one record I loved to listen to. So he goes, “Mary, the more of those cards you read the more you can listen to that record” so before I knew it I had read the whole box of them! It inspired my love of reading and also made me a very advanced one by the time I was in the 7th grade I was reading at a 12th grade level!
My mom and dad
My mom. She was a veracious reader. Some of my greatest summer memories include Mom taking us to the “big” downtown library in Toledo, Ohio for our weekly visit and we would all come out with stacks of books.
Both parents. Mom always said “If you can read you can do anything”
My mom and a few of my teachers.
My mom and dad, but also the fact that we didn’t watch much television until about the age of 13.
My aunt was a librarian. I got the greatest books ever?
Both my parents!
Dad’s the reason I fall asleep while reading!
My love for books!
My mom. She was always reading when I was younger.
My parents, who gave us each a book for Christmas. While my mom finished work, my sister and I waited in the library that was across the street from our school. It was like a treasure trove to me! When I was older mom was always reading.
My Mom
My Mother.
mom
My mom
My Mom
My parents. Mom was better with picture books, which didn’t interest Dad. And Dad was great with the chapter books, he had different voices for different characters and really brought them to life. I had a hard time learning to read, but I was motivated to keep working on it because I knew from being read to how great books were.
My aunt. She raised me when I was little. She was a high school teacher and at the time, she was still single. My father was working out of town a lot and my mom followed him everywhere while she completed her studies. So my aunt raised me till I was about 5. During this time, she bought me books, told me her own version of the stories, read to me almost everyday after work. And she taught me the alphabets and basically she was my first teacher. She was my mother at one time…
My mom and my dad
My 7th grade English teacher
Every Saturday when I had to go to my parents’t bakery Dad gave me a quarter which bought 3 comic books at the corner drug store.
I don’t really know as at that time I was the only reader in the family. However when my parents were in their seventies I introduced them to reading. I got my dad interested in reading westerns and my mom Nancy Drew then Amish books. My mom is now 88 and is still reading every day. My dad passed almost 4 years ago but was reading up til he passed.
Mom and English Teacher
I had a friend who was much elder to me during my 8th standard. He introduced me to book bu starting with TinTin, and all Richie rich, slowly to hardy boys and then to Robert Ludlum.. Trying to find him after 41 years.. Yet to find him.
My mom. Xo
Myself. People around me encouraged it, but I resisted it for a long time until it finally just resonated that a good book brings joy, makes you wiser.
My love of pizza for starters–Pizzahuts bookit program, I started reading to earn free pizza! Lol, all kidding aside I started reading frequently as an escape, because when I was a little girl my parents fought a lot. So I’d take a book and sit in my closet and read with the door cracked just enough to let the light in. I started reading because it was part of school requirements and I was a very good student for a long time.
My older brother
Mom’s side of the family. Most of us are readers
My mom
My love of reading comes from going to daycare. When we would lay down for nap, the teacher would read novels to 3 and 4 year olds. I will always remember listening to the Narnia series. So glad they were so progressive 40+ years ago!
I was grounded a lot as a kid and the only thing I was allowed to do was go to the library. So, my parents, I guess? ?? (who are not readers, LOL)
That’s hysterical!
My mother and sister.
Parents
My Mom and my third grade teacher..Mrs.Card..
My dad. He couldn’t stand for me to be lazy in the summers when I was in junior and high school (during the 70’s). He put together a reading list for me to read during summer vacation. I had a Charles Dickens, John Steinbeck, Leon Uris, Mark Twain and Hemingway summer. After my sophomore and junior years, he had the Harvard freshman reading list that I could choose from. At the dinner table, he would discuss the books with me. I was so annoyed back then but it never dawned on me to refuse. Now I see it for the loving gift it was.
My parents, definitely: they would take turns when I was a child and read me stories every night, one in Italian and one in English. But I also had really good teachers in elementary school, who showed us that reading could be fun and not necessarily a chore, and encouraged us to read anything that caught our fancy.
Carolyn Keene and her Nancy Drew mysteries. I came from a home of non readers but at the age of 12 discovered one of her books in a department store. This began my love of books that has lasted over 6 decades.
My mom.
Our small town Librarian. She always ask if I like a book and why. She would save me books and I would be the first to read them. I felt special. My mother didn’t read for pleasure but always took me to the library. She would sit outside and wait for me.
I’d have to say my 10th grade English teacher. She never said no when I asked to borrow her book even though it was huge!!!! I think it was “Sho-gun”.
My mom gave credit to my grandfather, who she said read me the comics when I was a newborn. My parents both read, we had walls of books in the house, it just came naturally.
Growing up without a TV
My parents used to read me some bedtime stories .
Yalkdaaabaa ma7chmtich
@Maroua laaaayn3lk makanoch kaydiroha
@Maroua 3ndk zhr ta wa7d makayfhmna , anaaa ana li ajoutetk ana li drtha l rassi
My mom is a school librarian. She’s been encouraging me to read anything and everything I could get my hands on for as long as I can remember. ❤️
Not a person. I fell in love with reading after I read the Harry Potter series. Haven’t stopped reading since.
Both my parents
My older sister
My mom. We couldn’t have a TV set until me and my three younger siblings could all read. Soooo I read a lot of books and missed a lot of TV.
Laura Ingalls Wilder. Fell in love with the stories and fell in love with reading.
Mom, reading all kinds of things to me when I was young. But mostly poetry when I was a tot.
I don’t know. Neither my parents or my brother like to read. It’s something I’ve always loved to do.
My Grandma.
My Granny! She was a bookworm and she would always buy me books as a kid, even pre-ordered Harry Potter for me. So grateful for her! ??
My mother
Neither my parents nor my older brother read that much. I’ve been a bookworm since I was four years old.
My parents
My mother, teachers and local library
My first grade teacher Mrs. Davis, she would have us do reading time and she always had the best books. She would let us bring our favorite coffee mug to class and our favorite tea and she would make tea for all of us and let us read. On my birthday she gave me a huge book with all these stories in it. I still have it now as a 28 yr old woman lmao. She was an amazing teacher.
Just came naturally as far as I can tell.
School’s reading lessons ??
School
Several uncles who read to me
Being an only child for 10 years
My mother and my school library. ?
My mother who brought me to the library every week and my father who brought me to bookstores.
My mom and grandma
When I was pre-first grade (no kindergartens back then in Alabama) my brother 19 months than me and my aunt only 4 years older than me went off to school every morning leaving me to salve my hurt feelings at being left behind with Captain Kangaroo. The Captain read books on his show, and I knew I had to go to school to learn to read. So I guess it would be a combination of my lying brother and my lying aunt who told me it would be years and years before I would go to school and the need to want to read the books Captain Kangaroo read that made me cry thinking I would be almost grown before I ‘d learn the alphabet.
Myself. I didn’t love reading until college. I finally discovered books I truly enjoyed and wanted to read. Before that, reading was a chore that I didn’t enjoy.
My Mom. Always spent some part of the day reading. When she was too ill at the end of her life, my sisters and I took turns reading ti her.
My dad. He read to me A LOT as a child, and even wrote and illustrated a children’s book based on me. ? Shalock and the Cloud of Bad Dreams. I have it memorized still, and now read it to my children.
My grandmother, she’d read the newspaper every morning to my grandfather and I’d eagerly listen along, as I got older she would read parts of her murder mystery novels to me, I loved it. After long I’d be trading books with grams, and wait for the next book in series to read. I owe my love of books and reading to her.
Dad, and mom, but mostly dad, when i was a child he saw that i liked reading so he took me once a week to the bookstore it didn’t last long just a few months but it really kept me going. And now i try to read one book a week still, mom kept doing it after he stopped not every week tho, good times!
Mom
Myself
My @Kindle lol, not really love reading before that but it helped, my mom when I was younger she had us read an hour a night I hated it then lol
Dad
My 6th grade English teacher. Every Friday we would read “The Outsiders” and discuss it. I fell in love with that book. Been hooked on reading ever since, now 52.
My mom, who filled our house growing up with books, magazines and newspapers.
Grandma
My mom
My Dad
My grandfather
mom
Judy Blume
Mom!
Good question! Are we taught to love to read or is it born in us, an instinct where we’ll starve of oxygen if we don’t read?
My great-grandmother
Grandma – she taught me to read before I went to school <3
My mother and my paternal grandmother. My mom loved to read herself took me to the library and to used bookstores. My grandma took me with her to work in her church library, and had compelling books I her house.
My mom. She read a lot and would take me to the bookmobile every week
Dad and grandma
My parents. They were teachers and always brought home the discarded books from the library, bought me Alice in Wonderland, my first unabridged audiobook, (it was on vinyl) and read to me. I also had a fabulous elementary school librarian, Miss Bruno, who taught me the Dewy Decimal System and led me to books she thought I would enjoy.
My parents
Both my parents, a house full of books and growing up before cable TV and video games (although my daughter loves to read, too, even though she grew up with the latter).
I guess my mom….
P G Wodehouse…. he reaches every generation …. and the first story of P G’s was read to me as a child in a raining lunch break … a short story from a book of short stories…. The Man With Row Left Feet …. a story about a dog and burglars….. many years later I still remember …….
My mom, she read books and often read them to me.
My Mother. She read to me every night before bed when I was little ? She would also take me to the public library and I was always so excited to go to the library.
Both parents.
Mom
My mom. She only has a 6th grade education but always read. Sure, most were cheesy romance novels, but nonetheless. Also, my dad always read the newspaper and magazines like National Geographic.
My father loved to read but at the time I would have been influenced by seeing him read he wasn’t reading. He had to put it lower on his priority list. He did read the paper everyday and my love of that definitely can from him. The kids in my neighborhood went to story hour at the library every week. Then my mother would read the books we checked out to us when we got home. So I credit my parents and a great librarian. My father read constantly after he retired until developing Macular degeneration. After that audiobooks were our best friends
My elementary teacher in our two room school, Mrs. Huss! I loved her like a mother!!
My mom
Parents!
mom
I can’t remember not loving books. So mom and dad. We were read to a lot .
My parents and my grandmother (paternal).
Dad!
My mom
To my bullies. The library was a safe spot since an adult was there. I was always there, hence why not read? So I began reading whilst hiding from my bullies.
Sad that you were bullied, but happy that it ended well
So sad. Books are wonderful companions!
It ended up being a good thing so it’s alright 🙂
My Mom! 🙂
My mom! 🙂
A difficult childhood. Reading was a way to escape.
Sorry to hear that. Books are a wonderful escape!
Never really thought about it. I actually have no idea. My mom hated to see me read. I would have to hide and read. But I love the library and always have.
My Mom, she was a teacher and English major.
My grandparents
Nancy drew?
To what: retirement
My momaw!
My Dad
My parents.
My Mom. I remember her reading to us at night-books like Peter Pan and Wendy and Alice in Wonderland. In addition, both of our parents were well-educated avid readers who encouraged our love of books.
My mom took us to the library on a regular basis starting from when I was really little. It was so empowering to choose my own books. I still remember the smell of the library and those books. Magic.
My sister (two years older than me). I wanted to do everything she did and she read constantly. She’s the one who introduced me to Anne McCaffrey, Isaac Asimov, Leon Uris, James Mitchener, historical fiction, Newberry award winners, and so much more.
myself
At my small town library, I was allowed to get a library card at age five. That event sent me on a path that I am still on sixty-five years later.
Author wise: J. K. Rowing because that was the first series I read, person wise my mom because she encouraged reading
My mother for sure, she has always been an avid reader and she was always trying to get me to read. I’m so thankful for her
My high school librarian!
Just me, myself and I
My mom
My Dad
All the boring people around and all the interesting characters in books.
My father, mother, and brother
My mom
My Mom and Dad. My Dad had a big bookshelf and was always reading. My mom and dad both read to me when I was little and my mom always took me to the library. My dad bought me books and even when I was able to read he would read the same book and we would talk about it. He I even bought me a kindle last year as an adult. 🙂
My dad was not a reader, but he read to me. Then I would read to him. I remember lots if Classic Comics.
My mother,we always had books in our home,she belonged to a book club back before they were popular.
jk rowling!
Me.
Me too! I was the only reader at home. 🙁
I think I started reading just to escape.
My grandma ❤
My granddad from always having a house of books to read as was always read to reading to him
My dad. He read to me, and taught me to read to him. By the time I started school, I loved reading, but back in the 50’s, that wasn’t a good thing. So we kept it a secret… reading has always been my …”other” life.
Reading was a “good thing” in the 50’s where I grew up!
…as a kindergartener and first grader it was most important to read as everyone else. Everyone else was learning the alphabet. “See spot run” was not hard for me to “sound out”, but it was for a lot of students.
Meanwhile, at home I was reading Grimm’s fairy tales.
@Jes i didn’t care what the other kids thought. I was perfectly happy, two months into first grade, to do the bible reading on parents’ day. ( hard to believe we had bible readings in public schools back then, but we did!)
i didn’t care either, lol, cause it’s not like you can stop reading once you know how to read, lol! But I do remember getting bullied by other children, because I could read.
I remember I read a lot of evenings at home, the great stories in the bible, like Ruth, and Judith, Deborah and Queen Esther… (but I alway thought of them as great stories…)
I was reading Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan series LOL
To my English teacher Mrs.cecily.
Stepanie Meyer !
My 7th grade reading teacher. Mrs. Byrd. Rip ❤️
My Dad and my Grandmother!
My mom and grandma 😉
My Mom and sister. They read alot and read to me all the time.
My mother, without question. From her I got my love of reading, my love of British fiction (most of my early books were by English authors), my enjoyment of mysteries, my habit of buying books at used book sales… and so on. Although most of my current books wouldn’t be to her taste, I definitely built on the foundation she provided.
My Great Grandma Kile and my Grandma Arlt.
My great aunt
My mother. She loves to read.
Not a “who” but a “what”. Loneliness as a child.
My Little Pony books on tape… I’m pretty sure that’s how I learned to read.
My mom and most importantly my dad ❤️
Daddy @Gabby
My father and my 4th grade teacher. We belonged to the book of the month club growing up.
My mom, & The Musser Public Library in Muscatine, IA, where we lived when I learned to read. My goal was to read every book they had, but we moved before I was done.
Dad.
Grandad xx
Family friend who started readimg the Harry potter books to me and left me to finish in the middle of three. And my parents amd first grade teacher who got me to a person. To help with my comprehension so i dont rememeber a time i hated reading
My maternal grandmother.
My mom!
My mom. She used to read Little Golden Books to me until she got bored. Then she read from her romance magazines. She said I didn’t care as long as she was reading. I was less than a year old.
My mother.
My dad. He was an English teacher and read to us every night. My mom always read lots of books too but it’s my dad for sure. Even after I moved across the country he would randomly order me books he thought I would like and not tell me so I would get these wonderful surprise books in the mail. And whenever he went away when we were young he would always bring us each back a book.
1) my mom, who took me to the public library weekly, 2) the public library’s summer reading program, 3) the culture of my state, which valued reading highly, always achieving education results in the top five in the nation, 4) My school district and the policy makers who devoted one full year of 7th grade language arts to reading books with a fabulous teacher, Mrs. Sterling. It takes a village and their taxes.
Grandmother she used to make both of us big glasses of ice waters and we would read every night ❤
Both my parents and my maternal grandparents were all readers who read to my sister and me.
Due to a childhood poor health condition
My grandmother, Bonnie Hamilton Barnett
Mum
Probably my mother.
ALl my family read to me when I was a child, and there were always lots of books around.
My mom and dad
Mother and Grandmother
My aunt @Andra
My dad ❤️
my dad & mom.
My mother ….
Visiting Hemingway house and playing with the cats in Key West tourist attraction. We visited the house several times when I was a child that needed to know what kind of man would like so many ? cats. I read the smallest book, Old man and the Sea. I was not a young girl yet, the old man. I felt such empathy and hope. That was enough to want to read the classics and embrace the characters.
Not my mom. Lol
My mom , Mrs. Ballard (1st grade) and a lady named Sadie at our small town library. I was lost in a world of Boxcar Children and Happy Hollisters
Did you go to school in Unionville? I had teacher named Mrs Ballard too.
My parents:) My and Dad would read to us s kids every night. They a trillion books while growing up.
Myself
same here
Me too-just me.
My Portuguese teacher from high school
My Mum
I think both of my parents
my mom <3 growing up she always had a book in her hand
My mother. She read to me every night when I was small, and we took turns reading to each other as I got older. She also made sure I got my own library card the day after my 5th birthday.
My mother who read to us (she could do accents so well) and my Dad who was a reader. All my siblings are readers.
..
My ninth grade teacher
My dad. He read to us all the time…growing up.
My parents. My first memories are of being read to.
Me! I feel into books all on my own, despite discouragement from adults.
My Gram always had a book in her hand and I often wondered as a child how she could lay in bed all day reading until I tried and instantly fell in love❤
My Mother and Father, they taught me books are the best friend you will ever have at a very young age.
I would like to thank God foremost. My parents bought books for my sibling and I from early o’clock and my mother took us to book related activities such as a visit to Logos Hope. My first primary school also played a role encouraging silent reading time. (My thanks speech??).
My Mom!
My parents we didn’t have a TV for years
Mom
My mom, who took us to the library every week all summer long. We could pick out whatever we wanted to read and if we wanted more then one book it was fine. She loved to read too! We were always read to as children too and read books to them when we learned to read!
My mom!
My Dad. Mum Gran and Pop Grandma and Pa. I could read before I went to school apparently.
We had a mobile library van that came to where we lived. The librarians used to let me have 6 books per week even though children were only supposed to borrow 3, so I guess thank you to those librarians whose names I never knew. ❤️
Dick and Jane
I can still remember how i felt when those words started to make sense to me…what a feeling!
Mostly my Grandmother. She was a HUGE reader and introduced the love of reading to me at a young age.
I think it’s genetic. My Father’s immediate family are all readers
My mom
My mom
My mom!
Mom
My Dad, who used to read full novels aloud to us as kids, and my Mom, who took us to the public library in our small town AT LEAST once a week!
Dad
I had the most amazing Kindergarten teacher back in the day who gave me the enthusiasm to read
Mom, Dad, grandparents. They all read to me and made sure I had access to lots of books. They also set the example of choosing to read.
Literally every single teacher I ever had. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized what a lucky kid I was!
My parents for modeling reading and providing a plethora or reading materials. ?
My Mom. She always encouraged reading.
My grandmother
Walter Farley. I don’t know if I would be the voracious reader I am today if it wasn’t for the Black Stallion series.
My dad.
My parent’s divorce lol
My mama
My mother who taught me to read at age 3 to keep me occupied when my sister was born. I can’t remember NOT being able to read on my own
My father – introduced me to the city children’s library at a very early age & took me there every Sat morning for years
My dad. I had a nasty case of strep throat, I was barely 5, dad read The Call of the Wild to me that week.
My mom and 3rd grade teacher.
My Aunt,she got me to read Dune when i was 12.
My grandmas, one constantly read to me before I could read and then was the one to always buy us books and take us to the library, my other always had a new book for me when they picked me up and our fun trips were to Barnes and Noble! ❤️ Now my little boy loves to read and loves finding now books as well, now to get my twins started early!
my parents.
both my parents
My Dad…he always had 2 to 3 books going at once.
My grandmother gave me the book “It” when I was 11 . So half her half Stephen king
I love a guy who reads. I have 3 boys who I read to constantly. My plan was, one day I could say, here is your book and I have my book. Let’s read:).
I have yet to see them read one thing. Not ever, except sport stats.
My mom
My mom
My first dyslexia tutor.
Me
My dad
My mother. She enjoyed reading. I have fond memories of her taking a lunch break from housecleaning and sitting at the kitchen table reading while she ate. She also took us to the library at an early age. The library was magical to me.
I give my mother a ton of credit, because we always had books in our home and moreover, she was an avid reader and strong supporter of higher education for all women.It was because of her, I was able to attend college ( full scholarship) in Chicago and eventually be awarded a BS, MS and PhD in Chemistry from a major university.
I also thank the many very kind and hard working librarians in the Chicago public librarles who helped me find stimulating and educational books throughout my childhood, high school and college years growing up in Chicago.
I can’t give the Chicago public libraries enough credit or praise for the important services these facilities provide to all Chicago residents but most importantly to folks and children living in need of social and economic support. Books and libraries offer knowledge but as importantly they offer children , who are living often in poverty, hope and a means to attain knowledge and perhaps a better way of life.
I have never forgotten the many hours I spent in these libraries and I never will. They are among my most sacred childhood memories.
My mom.
Myself, and my parents
Definitely my mother. I’m never without a book around.
See above ????
My grandmother. She loved books, was always reading She gave me my first books when I was younger. Later we shared many books. I miss her very much ❤️
My mom & sisters!
Both my mother and father. My dad read to me every night, and my mother talked with me about books, took me to the library at an early age, and modeled reading.
I credit a trip to a public library with my Dad when I was about 8 or 9 years old. My Dad wasnt a big reader but he went for books on research for I dont remember what. When I walked through the door, I swear, the feeling that came over me was surreal. It felt like “home” is the only way to describe it. I have loved books from that moment on. True story. ?
My mum. For sure.
My mom
My parents, Dad worked for McMillan Publishing and Mom loved to read!
My mother…she told me that with every book you go to a new place. I was hooked from then on.
My grandmother
My mother. She has always been an avid reader. Still is at 92. We went to the library twice a week growing up. Tuesdays and Saturdays.
My mom. She took my brother and me to the library weekly every summer. She wasn’t an avid reader, didn’t speak much about reading or provide many books at our home otherwise, but she created a joy filled habit.
Both of my parents
My mom
My parents. ?❤️
My maternal grandmother
My mom – she was always reading. As a retired teacher, I know that kids whose parents read, read themselves. My three-year-old grandson never sees his parents reading….it worries me….so I do my best to read around him and to him.
My kids have had books since they were born…I read all the time, their dad doesn’t, I read to them all the time actually my oldest learned to read when she was 4…she reads the other two not so much….go figure
Still remember my mom taking me to the Charles H. Taylor Public Library to get my first library card. It was cardboard with a tiny metal plate with my three digit number. I can still visualize the children’s room 50+ years later. I remember the Scholastic Book Club at school and getting to buy two books; I remember my father bringing me home a book on the brain when I was about 8 years old which I swear piqued my interest in psychology (my undergrad and grad school focus) and the hard cover book series in my room. My mother and grandmother were teachers, so reading was a way to know the world. I don’t read nearly as much as I’d like, but realize I read way more than many folks do.
Both my parents. My mom bought us “story books” from an early age. My dad would read to me when he got home from work while mom was making dinner
Mother and my “big brother” from big brothers big sisters. Bought me The Hobbit and have loved fantasy and reading ever since!!
My mom. She read to me when I was little and always had a book in her hand. By the time I was 12 I was reading some of the same books she was. Remembered reading The Source by James Mitchener because she had.
My mom. She always let me pick out a few books when I brought home the the Scholastic catalog from school!
Yes!
My maternal grandmother
I was just born this way. I was the only reader in my family.
My mom loved to read and Mrs. Cochran, my first grade teacher. She told us we could fly on a space ship or hang out with cavemen if we loved to read.
My mother. She was raised by an abusive mother and found books to be her way out. she started teaching me to read when I was three or four and books were standard gifts during all of our childhood. She died and left many books but all of us are reluctant to take them from her shelves…. it would be too final. My brother collects books as do I and we can certainly put it all back on Mom. My other siblings love books but do not read in the fashion my brother Bill and I read. My daughter had a book shower when she married and she married a reader. We are on our fourth generation of book lovers… my grandchildren love reading time more than any other. I recently gave them a book that my Mom had as a child… it is a mother goose edition from the late 1920’s.
What a wonderful legacy.
Wow such an inspirational story. I wish I was part of your family.
Nope. Salem, Ia
My dad. He taught me how to read when I was four and I’ve never looked back.
Myself. I’ve always been a reader. But, I remember asking my Mom what books she read and liked. I will never forget…”Leave Her to Heaven” & “My Brother’s Keeper”
Nancy Drew!
IDK! I just liked to escape in my books.
My mom! And Stephen King. And Monica Furlong. And a hundred others!
This group! The day does not have enough hours in it for me to keep up with all the books I NEED to read because all the amazing recommendations
My second grade teacher Ms, Dodson from Sarepta, LA. She would read The Secret Garden to the class every afternoon. I was hooked. I’m now 70 years old and still reading.
My reading turtor from the 4th grade
Enid Blyton
J.k Rowling and Rick Riordan and Agatha Christie.
But my dad told me about Harry Potter. But it’s also mostly me.
My parents, my grandparents, my whole family. They were readers and writers.
Stephen King ? I lived with my father growing up and he couldn’t read or write that well, I only saw my mother one day a week and she never had a book in her hands. One day when I was about 8 I found carrie by Stephen King on a shelf in the living room, my father said it was one of 3 books he’d managed to read all the way through and he told me I couldn’t read it until I was older. So curiosity got the better of me and I started reading it at the age of 8 and my love for books grew and grew. Now I own more books than I think I can possibly read in my lifetime ?
My dad. He read me books every night and then when i got older he’d still read Harry Potter to me before bed.
My mother, every single night she read to me until she died when I was 9. What a great gift she gave me then and now.
My mother’s mother also passed away when she was nine. It made for interesting mothering without a role model.
My grandmother. I have fond memories of going to my grandma’s house and each visit she would share books she’d found at yard sales She also kept a copy of “Where the Sidewalk Ends” out and it was always a favorite at her house. There were and still are piles of books on every surface so she set quite the example. Just last week I went for another visit and she passed on a few books she’d finished and loved.
A college children’s literature professor who really showed me what good literature is.
My beloved father
My mother <3
My dad. He always had Reader’s Digest and Science Fiction Digest and Reader’s digest condensed books.
My mother. She read every single Agatha Christie book and took us to the library every week.
My mom and my dad. They both loved reading. Also we took crazy long road trips in the summer. We live in Las Vegas and we would start our drive the day after school let out and we would drive to GA, and FL then to NY…we have family in those states. If you didn’t read that trip would take a lifetime but reading helped pass the hours spent in the car. I learned to love to read and my mom always packed us several books and comics to pass time.
My early teachers!
My mother
My mom
My mum
Both parents. We akways had National Geographics laying around. Then I just started going to the library and reading all the Jr. Readers about historical figures.
My mom and grandfather
My 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Bastian.
My mom and my grandma are both readers themselves so maybe it’s genetic, but I feel like my dad deserves some credit too. Even though he hates to read and has never enjoyed it, he always made the time to read to me.
My mother, for taking me to the library as a child and instilling that love in me. We also had various volumes of reference books at home (encyclopedias, nature, religious, etc.) and I remember learning my alphabet early, from always looking at the letters on the spines. Not to mention, reading the actual reference books.