Berchiolly 1 Most people seemed to have learned their way of literacy through family and friends, I on the other

hand was never really encouraged by my parent to pick up a book and practice my literacy skills as a child. Growing up with parents that were in between jobs and had five children to worry about it was almost impossible to get them to sit down and talk to us let alone read to us. lthough I always had my teachers that pushed reading I never became interested in it at an early age. It wasn!t until I started using reading as a way to escape from life that I really developed a passion for it. I believe that there are two main events in my life that greatly impacted my reading skills, the time I broke my arm and the summer I spent in Indiana. "ven though I never really developed an interest in writing I believe that these events also contributed to my writing skills. #hen I was seven years old I attempted to do a back hand spring, when I failed I landed on my arm causing a compound fracture. Being the first person in my family to break a bone, my mom became paranoid about letting me participate in any types of activities while I had my cast on. $o while my classmates where at recess I would spend an hour in the library every day. It was then that I developed a liking for books. $oon I found my way to a book that I soon became obsessed with titled %&inderella'. (o seven year old me I was &inderella my two sisters where the evil step sisters and my mom was the evil step mother. It was after that book that I begged my mother to take me to the local library so that I could get my very own library card. )rom that moment on I always loved fantasy books. nything about princesses in danger and prince charming coming to her rescue I became obsessed with. fter I got my cast removed I stopped reading as much as I once did but you can tell in my writing journal at the time that those few months of reading impacted how I looked at the world. ll I ever wanted to write about was stories that involved me being the beautiful princess and my knight coming to rescue me. "ven

Berchiolly * though the amount I read greatly decreased I still picked up a book every once in a while through elementary school. It wasn!t until my summer going into eighth grade that my love for reading would develop again. I believe that summer had the biggest impact on my reading skills. +aving divorced parents my sisters and I would spend summers in Indiana with our father. My father was never the world greatest dad. +e was a man who not only had anger problems but also a love for alcohol and hard core drugs. Being the kind of person that attempts to avoid any type on altercation I would hide in my room when my father wasn,t at work. My step sister Monica I believe was probably my biggest literacy sponsor at the time. Monica always had a book in her hand no matter what and one day when my father came home and the yelling was impossible to block with the television, Monica gave me one of her nime books. I never was much of an nime fan but I remember her saying, %-eading helps block out your surrounding', so of course I took the book. "ven though I got bored of nime .uickly she sparked my passion for reading again because to my surprise no matter how loud my dad got if I focused hard enough I could escape. $ince the library was in walking distance from our house at the time Monica started bringing me with her when she went. It wasn!t long until I fell back into my love for fantasy reading books such as the (wilight series, and Beasty. In the si/ week summer I probably read close to four books a week. 0ot only did the books help me escape from my father but it helped me forget how much I missed home. In what felt like no time at all I was on an airplane headed home with another book in my hand. my love for reading again 1ooking back on my e/periences I reali2ed that I used reading as a way to escape from life. -eading affected my life positively because I!m not sure how else I would have coped with fter that summer in Indiana I never strayed away from

Berchiolly 3 the boredom of having a broken arm or the abuse from my father without reading. (he end of middle school and throughout high school I could always be found with a book in my hand which I believed also helped developed my interest in learning generally "ven now being eight4 teen years old, in college, and having a job I seem to always have time to read a book. lthough I no longer use reading to escape from my problems I do use it when I need a break from reality. I truly believe that reading helped me throughout high school and will continue into my future. #ithout the events that affected my literacy I am not sure where I would be today.

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