Jeannine Atkins

A character in the chapter book I’m writing is struggling to learn to read. She’s a noisy, busy girl, unlike the quiet kid I was, who grew up in a very different time and place, but I’ve thought back to my first encounters with the printed word. I remember my older sister placing a book she’d been allowed to take home from first grade in my hands. A book with few bold words and many pictures, specifically meant for learning to read. I don’t think my sister said much, if anything, but her expectation that this book would crack secrets meant something. I remember pressing this book to my heart, hearing a yellow school bus go by, feeling as if that loud bus bestowed some magic. So this was what that crazy alphabet song was about. I wanted more than the few words I’d mastered, but it was cool to feel I was on my way.

Do you remember your first attempts at reading? I’d love to hear.