Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Grrrrrr....school is driving me insane!

Love it! I was not an early reader but more of a stubborn one. It was my grandmother who was an avid reader that pushed the topic. Every summer she would insist on library time (so she could get another book) and quiet time where we were to read in the afternoon. I, of course, rebelled BUT eventually started reading thanks to "The Secret Garden". Once I did I was hooked. I must have been about 7 at the time. I quickly went through the Judy Blume books and others similar and found myself drawn to cheesy romance novels. I read so many of them it was pathetic. Shockingly enough, my family didn't stop my interest. As long as I was reading, that was all that mattered. Before leaving high school I had tired of the simple plots and hungered for more complex books. The more twist and turns the better.

As for school librarians: my grandmother was a primary teacher at the school and her close friend was the school librarian. There weren't too many obstacles in the way. Yet, as I stated: I was not big on reading early on but my cousin was an early reader and the school bent over backwards to provide for him. Primary school was grades 1st through 3rd grade and I remember being in 3rd grade and him in 2nd grade. He would come to our class to read and even that wasn't enough advancement for him. Most of the time he was helping the teacher teach the advanced group. His parents were very anti-grade acceleration so he stayed within his respected class through graduation.