Weekly Geeks 2010.11: In the Beginning

For this week's Weekly Geek, we are thinking back to the past and remembering that defining moment where we realized "I am a reader!"

I know it's hard to settle on one particular moment, but I've thought long and hard as what book I could pin down as "the one." Finally, I've decided to give this honor to the Little House series.

Now, I wish I had a story to go along with these books! But I simply remember that I read Little House in the Big Woods... loved it, and then got the whole freakin' series one year for Christmas in a wonderful boxed set. I was so excited! My guess is I was about in the 2nd or 3rd grade. So, from there, I worked my way, slowly but surely, through all the books.

Here I am in 2nd grade (left) and 3rd grade (right.) Can you see that my mom did something VERY devastating to my hair in between those two grade!! I really hated it.She had blow it dry every day in order for it to "look right." What a pain!

I remember enjoying the books when Laura was younger, much better than the ones after she got older and old and married! Then there was that one book, Farmer Boy, that was thrown in there, and there was no Laura at all!

Years later, one of my sisters got a hold of Little House in the Big Woods and either destroyed it or lost it. I was so devastated. Even more years went by, and finally, after getting sick of hearing about it, she gave me a replacement copy, which I was glad for even if it didn't match the rest of my set.

Is there anyone NOT familiar with this series? It's hard to imagine, but basically, it's the life of a pioneer family, particularly one girl, Laura, as they move from their cozy house in the woods of Wisconsin, to the stark and dreary plains of South Dakota. She has many many adventures and stories to tell as she grows up, becomes a school teacher, falls in love, and gets married. It's all based on the true life story of the author, Laura Ingalls Wilder... in fact, she doesn't even change the names! Which almost makes me think she didn't intend these books to be considered fiction! But anyway, she is an amazing story teller and her life, as ordinary as it may seem, was a fascinating one to read about.

Sadly, I haven't been able to make my own girls interested in this series at all. Why is that do you think? 

Anyway, I think it was after these books came my way, or at least right around the time that they did, that I decided I really liked to read, that I looked forward to school ibrary day with a passion, that I loved hauling my parents to the county library and making them help me pick something, that I loved getting books for gifts, that I wanted to read everything.

Here you can see my mismatched Big Woods books,along with the letter and diary books that aren't really part of the main series. These books I have were printed in 1971.

Some other books that played a huge roll in my early book loving years:

*The Nancy Drew mysteries
*Beverly Cleary books: specifically Fifteen, which my guess is the first romantic book I ever read
*The Box Car Children (which I didn't know was a series at the time):  I made my brothers play Boxcar Children over and over and over again!
* Where the Red Fern Grows: books can make you cry!
* Mandy (by Julie Andrews): was another book I couldn't get enough of. A lot like The Secret Garden only different.

Hopefully you'll have a chance to participate this week in Weekly Geeks and let us know what got you started on the path to reading!