by La Bellota
Member since:
April 11, 2006

What book inspired your love of reading?

February 01, 2007 10:40 PM EST
views: 84 | rating: 9.9/10 (17 votes) | comments: 38

I have so many books I loved as a child.  But there is one book that made me know.....that I LOVE TO READ!!!

Tell me the book and your story.

My book was "The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster.

I remember back in 4th grade....  And that is a whole lot of remembering.  We had a teacher.....and you will not believe her name when I tell you....Wilma Derring.  (And oh yeah....Battlestar Gallactica was HUGE at the time)  She promised us if we behaved she would read us a story.  A story?  WE were 4th graders.  Too old for a story!  And The Phantom Tollbooth sounded like a book for a boy. 

But as soon as I started my journey with Milo and Tock.....wow.

I still read and get enjoyment from that book.

What book started it all for you? 

 

 

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Comments: 38

There was no "one" book for me. I taught myself to read at the age of two and never stopped. I lived for summer when I could go to the library every day and check out a stack of books, lay on the couch in the "forbidden" living room and read one book after another.
Janet H. Feb 1, 2007, 10:47pm EST
I started reading in elementary school with the Scholastic Books you order from your teacher and get in paperback. Then I started avidly reading Perry Mason novels when I was in 6th grade. And someone gave me a Nancy Drew mystery and then I had to read every one of those. My parents joined me up with the Weekly Reader book club and I read loads of novels for children. Ones like Beautiful Joe and No Children, No Pets. Then at age 12, I read Kona Summer and loved it. I just bought a 40+ year old used copy of it and am reading it again before I pass it on to my granddaughters. I don't read as many books as I used to now that we have the Internet. But I still read Sue Grafton mysteries.
Carol Lloyd Feb 1, 2007, 10:50pm EST
Dont laugh but I loved Horton the Elephant.
Mariana T. Feb 1, 2007, 10:55pm EST
There were so many books in my life. I learned to read around 4 and shortly thereafter, my dad took me to the library. Later to the bookmobile. I mostly liked those blue biography books. I would have to say that as an adult, Steinbeck was my greatest influence. I love to read. Thanks for this article. Salud.
Sonia M. Feb 1, 2007, 11:12pm EST
I started reading as a pre-schooler and have been a voracious reader since. My first favorite book which I read by myself was Periquito el Buzo, in Spanish...I don't remember the author's name.....about a little boy who would wear the old fashioned diver's gear and explore the wonderful bottom of the sea.

Even to this day, I read at least 2 and sometimes 3-4 books a week...
Sue D. Feb 1, 2007, 11:13pm EST
My older brother was learning to read, so I sat down with him and learned at the age of two. I loved Go Dog G0! "what's that up in the tree? It's a dog party!"
I have had many books that I love, and continually find more.
La Bellota Feb 1, 2007, 11:14pm EST
Yes. This is wonderful. I was reading very early on...I even read the encyclopedia....but when I read the Phantom Toll booth...something just clicked. I LOVE TO READ! And I was off. Laura Ingalls books, Dr. Seuss' the Lorax, anything I could get my hands on.
Mariana T. Feb 1, 2007, 11:23pm EST
I read Dr. Seuss way until I was about in the 8th grade...loved all the books and was amazed at the sophistication. I remember reading Heidi very early - I'm goin way back into the memory banks here - I didn't read as much in my teens and 20's but began more so in my 30's. Salud.
Sue D. Feb 1, 2007, 11:27pm EST
I loved Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, when I was young.
J. C. Feb 1, 2007, 11:29pm EST
Don't laugh, but it was "The Pokey Little Puppy." It was the first book my mother ever read to me.
I think she started reading to us before we were born, and all five of her kids love to read.
My first serious "grown up" book was "Carrie," and I've loved Stephen King since.
Visionaerie B. Feb 1, 2007, 11:38pm EST
For me, it had to be Ray Bradbury's 'The Martian Chronicles.' (Looks like Sue's also a Bradbury fan!) I just love his imagery and I later got the TV miniseries of that one on tape. And since 'Chronicles' I just had to pick up everything I could find by him. But much earlier I remember reading a book called 'Who Killed Cock Robin' which was a warning about pesticides, so that also influenced me. So many books, so little time!
Sarah B. Feb 2, 2007, 12:06am EST
As a kid we both listened to books on tape and read books all of the time. I could not sleep well at night without listening to one of my books on tape. Real young I loved Dr. Seuss, the ABCs in particular and Horton Hears a Hoo and The 500 hats of Bartholemew Cubbins (which my mom now teases me is why I get along with my husband so well since he owns about 500 hats). I remember reading Charlotte's Web with my parents each night. However I think the book that truly caught me was The BFG by Roald Dahl. After that came Stephen King and Dean Koontz.
Sarah B. Feb 2, 2007, 12:07am EST
By the way, great topic! I am working with a child who struggles with reading and therefore doesn't like it. It is so hard for me to imagine my life without reading. I love it.
Kevin Weeks Feb 2, 2007, 12:19am EST
It wasn't a book, it was a teacher, who taught me to love reading. Her name was Mrs Ebersole.
Miranda Kay L. Feb 2, 2007, 1:19am EST
I am a big reader. I was so excited the other day when I saw a movie trailer to Bridge to terabithia one of my cherished reads as a child.
marilyn l. Feb 2, 2007, 4:32am EST
don't laugh. "Dick and Jane." That was the first book i read as a child. The words fascinated me. I remember the thrill of making out my first words. Since then, I have gone to bigger and better books, but i will never forget "Dick and Jane."
Terry S. Feb 2, 2007, 8:01am EST
Mine had to be Field and Stream ; )
La Bellota Feb 2, 2007, 9:06am EST
Wow great stories! And to all of you who said don't laugh....I am not. I, too, loved Pokey Little Puppy, everything Dr Seuss......and Viz! I loved Who killed Cock Robin. I had this book by (forgive me if I have this wrong) Marie Angeletti. In addition to the stories there were these lovely illustrations. I would love to have that book in my hand again. I DID not know it was about pesticides. Thank you for the insight! Peter! I can see why you write the way you do now. Terry I am glad you have something on your head now....Thank you errbody I love this topic!!!
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome. My Dad used to read a chapter to us each night before bed. When he quit, about half way thru the book, I picked it up and finished it. It was a great book to stir a child's imagination.
Barbara W. Feb 2, 2007, 12:31pm EST
My mother always read. I never saw her without a book in her lap or at least one close by. One day I asked her why she read so much and she replied, "...because reading takes you a different place with each story..." and for some reason, that has always stayed with me. My first book was "Heidi" and I thought it was pretty good until I read "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"...I was hooked! I still love the actual smell of a library, there is something so intoxicating about a library...all those books, all those stories, all of the adventures...amazing!
marilyn l. Feb 2, 2007, 2:24pm EST
i, too, like the smell of a library!
Jody Says Feb 2, 2007, 3:23pm EST
I was an avid reader at a very young age, in first grade I tested and read at a 5th grade level. I read the Hardy boys books and still have them all, anything with words fascinated me. But the first "real" book I read, was Bram Stokers Dracula, I loved it, and still have the original that I read, I have read several times, and that started my love for the thriller/horror books.
☀ Aunt Shanny Feb 2, 2007, 4:39pm EST
When I was four my grandmother helped me learn how to read "Willy and the Whale". I have started writing about her and someday will post about it here on gather.
Carla S. Feb 2, 2007, 10:21pm EST
I have always loved books. My mother read to me from a very early age and so did my grandmother. Dr Seuss was always a favorite. I think my first "novel" type books that I remember reading were the Little House on the Prairie books. I also loved Anne of Green Gables, the Bobbsey Twins, the Boxcar Children and Trixie Beldon.

The first book I ever recommended to anyone was called A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla. I am not sure why that has always stuck with me, but I really loved that book. I was in 3rd grade and I recommended it to a friend of mine. It was a privilege to get to go to the library back then and I had a great time exploring many types of books.

I still love books. I am hoping to pass my love on to my son. So far he seems to love books, too.
Sue * Feb 2, 2007, 10:29pm EST
I've always been a reader. My first memories of really caring about what I was reading was the Nancy Drew series...I still love them.
Cecilia N. Feb 3, 2007, 10:33am EST
I love fairy tales and those classics from Grimm brothers as a child those big and colored picture books.As I grow I tend to more serious books and the first book really impressed me was Anna Frank diary.I think that writing was her way to scape from the reclussion and moral assasin prosecution she has to live with.Just think that as soon as she end her family were captured she died so quickly, cause she could not write anymore.They took her words, they took her life.That is my first real book: Anna Frank Diary.
Ron (in complete sheeple overload) W. Feb 3, 2007, 1:27pm EST
Started reading really young, I think some, even before school, but the first I really remember having a hard time putting down was Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson, and of course, the Hardy Boys mysteries. Call of the Wild was in there somewhere. The one that first got me really thinking, though, was my older brother's copy of Profiles In Freedom, by JFK.
marilyn l. Feb 3, 2007, 8:35pm EST
I used to take my kids to the library when they were very young. I took them to story hour. I always participated in helping them choose books such as"Little Bear"series, "Curious George" series, "Barbour the elephant" . When they grew older they read "Little House on the Prairie," "Encyclopedia Brown" and Nancy Drew. Now they are avid readers, they have always read to their children, their children are keeping up the tradition of the "love of reading."
My grandchildren now read the infamous "Harry Potter."

Cecilia, I like your comment about Anne Frank, "They took her words, they took her life." I should really read this diary again. Imagine she was the only young person who we have a diary from the Holocaust. There must have been more people who wrote diaries, but they are lost some wheres. Maybe i'll get intouch with Yad VShem, the h olocaust museum in Israel and find out.
Debbie G. Feb 5, 2007, 8:48pm EST
Dear and Glorious Physican by Taylor Caldwell.
Travis B. Feb 5, 2007, 8:52pm EST
"Dr. No" was the first piece of adult fiction I ever read and it was on after that! I think that was in the 4th grade.
J. C. Feb 5, 2007, 10:03pm EST
That explains a lot, Travis.
Michele Scercy Feb 6, 2007, 9:36am EST
There isn't just one book that sparked my love of reading. When I was in kindergarten and before my grandmother would read to me. I loved it. She would read books over and over again. After awhile i would start "reading" the books to her. Actually I had just memorized all the words and where to turn the pages. Heeheehee. That's what got me started reading.
flit . Feb 6, 2007, 12:28pm EST
I don't remember much of my early years... seems to me I've been reading forever... have always always been surrounded by books and don't ~get~ how people can live without them
La Bellota Feb 6, 2007, 12:43pm EST
So many good books! I definitely understand. I don't remember actually learning to read but I do remember being asked to read in kindergarten one page and the teacher (Ms Mishoe) said keep going...keeping going and I read the whole book to class. I felt so good. It was like magic and the world got that much bigger.

(Marilyn l. tell me what you find!)
Yasher the Cute Canadian Feb 6, 2007, 9:08pm EST
I remember it as A WRINKLE IN TIME by Madline L'Engle, though I am certain my love started long before that one. :)
La Victoria Feb 6, 2007, 9:48pm EST
Seriously Yasher...we were separated at birth. A Wrinkle in Time is one of my favorite books.
I have always been a reader, since before I can remember. But I have a similar experience as you LaB. A teacher (I think it was 4th grade as well) read to us The Outsiders...fantastic...
I was attracted to authors like Judy Blume which morphed into Betsy Byers to Lois Duncan (throw a little Sweet Valley High series in there for fluff) which morphed into Stephen King. I will never forget the first time I read Stephen King. I must have been 12 or 13 and my sister had all his books in her Book of the Month library...having read "scary" books before...these looked just as good, but a little too long, so I picked up a book of short stories. The cover had a scary monkey on it. It was Skeleton Crew...I was hooked!
Quinn (aka Entwife) Blackburn Feb 8, 2007, 10:54am EST
Oooh, love Phantom Tollbooth! Don't jump to Conclusions though, hehehe... there was no one book for me either really. It was every book I could get my hands on when I began to read for myself. We had a lovely school librarian who said that if we could reach it, we could read it. I climbed a chair, stood on tiptoe and nabbed the first book I could lay hand to! :) I believe it was either Cinnabar the five o'clock fox or King of the Wind.

Now, before that, it would have to be the collection of fairy tales that my mother read to me each night. Brothers Grimm and Anderson told in the best dark and lifelike manner. No skimming around the horrific deaths of the evil queen, or making light of the tragedy the befalls the heros for me! The Goose Girl, Faithful John and the Constant Tin Soldier were favorites long before I could read. I think the good old fairy tales help to prepare you for life in ways you never imagine at the time lol.

Wishing You Laughter
Shelbia C. Feb 3, 2009, 5:58pm EST
I barely remember not knowing how to read. There is no one book. I just hot caught up in the idea that if you put letters together they made words and from words you could get stories. The concept amazed me and I guess still does.

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