How Reading Changed My Life

When I was little I can remember hating anything to do with reading. I wasn’t very good at it, and it just didn’t spark any interest in me. This, on top or being pathologically shy, didn’t make things any easier. I also wasn’t pushed by anyone to get better; my biological parents never took the time to sit down and help me with my reading. Throughout my younger years I was reluctant to go to school because I would get teased by my classmates. Reading was not always one of my favorite things to do, but one book changed it all.

The first day of fourth grade in a new school rolled around; I was absolutely petrified. I just knew I was going to get made fun of for not being able to read as well as them. I walked in with the principal and introduced myself; “Hi, I’m Martha Williams.” After roll was called and everything was ready, Mrs Harte, my reading teacher told us we were going to compose a paragraph about ourselves and read it to the class. I was excited to tell everyone about who I was, but I wasn’t too keen on reading it out loud. Being as shy as I was, I didn’t have a great inclination for talking. When it was my turn to read I was having struggling quite a bit, so Mrs. Harte came to help me.

The next week we were “popcorn reading” from the textbook. Soon it was my turn to read, and I told myself not to be afraid. However,
I was able to thoroughly understand what many stories and pieces of literature were about because I connected with them on such a deep level. This didn’t mean I knew everything, because some things were still a struggle to me. Writing on a personal level came naturally, but expository, persuasive, and informative topics were a little foreign to me. I was more interested in narratives and poetry, because I liked relating the topics to me and my life experiences. Consequently, these obstacles made me work a little harder to achieve my