Early Reading Meme

So I am new to this whole "meme" thing, but Becca, my cute sister-in-law ( I see so many abbreviations in all the blogs that I read and I don't know what most of them mean, so I am going to play too and say Becca is my "SIL") tagged me for this one so here goes:

1. How old were you when you learned to read and who taught you?

Wow. I really have no idea. I don't have the best memory of my early days, but I think I really learned to read by watching the words as my mom read to me. I do remember the first book I read aloud to someone, "The Adventures of Morris and Boris"(Morris the Moose and Boris the Bear). I remember my brother being very impressed and my sister saying that I had just heard the stories so many times, I had memorized them all. It was probably a little of both. But I sure thought I was smart!

2. What books do you remember owning as a child?

Again, I have such a stinky memory but I do remember a few. The ones that stand out are "Goodnight Moon" (I know, so overdone but I loved the book) , the story about Corduroy, the little teddy bear that gets lost in a store overnight, "There's a Nightmare in my Closet", "Bread and Jam for Frances" , "Make Way for Ducklings", "Where the Wild Things Are" and the "Wheedle on the Needle". I can't tell you authors on a lot of the books, but you who have read them will know.

3. What is the first book you remember buying with your own money?

This is something I actually remember clearly. When I was in first grade, we were asked to bring our favorite book for show-in-tell. The book I was currently obsessed with was Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. So I brought it to school with me, and after show-in-tell, it somehow disappeared (I still to this day think Chris Lindsey, the class bully who sat next to me, stole it. That is one of the downfalls of being the shy, quiet, incredibly obedient-because-you-would-pee-your-pants-in-terror-if-the-teacher-ever-got
mad-at-you kind of kid. You ALWAYS had to sit by the bad kids. I told my mom and she took me to the book store to buy the book again with my allowance.

4. Were you a re-reader as a child? If so, what did you read the most often?

Not so much. I did like to pick a series and get all the books in a series, but usually when I was done with them all, I would move on. I loved the Beverly Cleary books, Encyclopedia Brown, the Anastasia series, Ameila Bedelia...I can't remember too many right now. The only books I would reread over and over was the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books because I could have different endings each time! Oh, and I do remember another book I reread lots- "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein.

5. What is the first adult book that captured your interest and how old were you when you read it?

It was either "The Secret Garden" or "Anne of Green Gables", I'm not sure which. Do those count as adult books? I was probably around 8 or so? I remember sneaking into my older sister's room and stealing the Anne books as I read them, hoping she wouldn't notice the hole in her cute little boxed series.

6. Are there any children's books you passed by as a child and learned to love as an adult?

You know, we really didn't have to many Dr. Seuss books in my house growing up and now that I have read many of them in adulthood, I realize that I missed out! They are so clever and entertaining and I have decided that the Lorax is my personal hero - he fought to save the Truffula Trees!!

I am going to have so much fun exploring my old favorites and new books with my kids. I love to read to Jane each night, even if it's just baby picture books!

Um...I would tag someone else to do this meme, but I don't really know anyone yet....oh wait...I will tag the one other person I know who blogs...my other SIL, Andrea.