Let’s Talk Bookish: How Did You Get Into Reading?

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted with Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Book Nook Bits has hosted since April 2022.

Hm…this is an interesting one, and definitely the kind that requires me to dig deep, deep into my childhood for the answers! So, let’s start, shall we?

Let’s Talk Bookish July 12th:
How Did You Get Into Reading?
(Alli @ Alli the Book Giraffe)

Prompts: How did you get into reading? Did you immediately love it, or did it take you a while? Who first introduced you to books – parents, friends, teachers? Did you grow up around book lovers, or did you find a love of reading on your own? Which books started your love of reading?

I know I got into reading from a young age – although my dad isn’t a big reader, he did read to me, and I have fond memories of running up to my granddad and settling on his knee with a book in hand. We were frequent visitors to the library, and it’s definitely the adults in my life who fostered a love for books. Even in school, where I’d take part in the reading sessions and ask if I could possibly come back later – I was allowed, ‘if you finished your work’. Reading, in part, was a reward for me.

The library was also a crucial part of this. They had summer ‘competitions’, and when I was very young (still reading picture books), I read so many books one summer I was allowed to pick out my own brand new book to take home. I wish I could remember what book it was, but I was obsessed with any books that had animals, and the one I picked featured a cat and her kittens. Another favourite that I constantly borrowed from school was about a puppy who got his paw stuck in a bridge.

Other picture books I remember really loving were often not mine, but those at friends’/families’ houses, or in the library or school. Once There Were Giants was a firm favourite, The Jolly Postman or Other People’s Letters, and of course the classic Dear Zoo.

As I got older and moved towards chapter books, I started picking up mostly books from my brother’s room. I still used the library, a lot, excited for the day I could get an adult card and take out 10 books instead of 5, my brother had a decent collection of Goosebumps, Point Horror and Horrible History books, and I devoured these.

And, well, the rest is history. I definitely feel grateful for the adults who encouraged my reading without judgement, who didn’t question my habit of reading 5 books at once, and my brother for not being too annoyed when his books disappeared! And for the local library, of course, which never let me down and always gave me something new to explore.