Brittany Kelley
English 101.070
September 24, 2013
The Gift of Reading “Once there was a tree…and she loved a little boy.”(Silverstein 1-2)
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...” (Seuss 1). When the idea of reading pops into my head, thousands of memories flood into my mind. One memory in particular always sticks out and that would be the first time I read an entire book without any assistance to my first grade teacher, Mrs. Myers. The reason I am so fond of this memory is because not only did I discover my independence as a reader, I realized my love for reading. This book has imprinted itself into my brain for life, and the name of it is, The Giving Tree, written by Shel Silverstein. Other people may know it as the green book with a tree and child on the front, but I view it as the book that inspired my love for reading. Before even opening the book, the front cover explains most of the story; it is about a young boy and a tree’s relationship. They had a very special bond. The boy was very poor and always looked to the tree for help and the tree was always able to give him something from herself. I believe a huge reason this poem spoke to me was because at that point in my adolescent life, I was still learning about the concept of giving and receiving. With this book having 64 pages and me only being six, you could say I was very intimidated by even the thought of reading this book. Mrs. Meyers pushed me, and she believed in me as if I were her own daughter. It took me a couple days to finally get through the entire book, even though there were only a few words on each page. I remember starting off a little shaky and every couple pages would look up to get the okay from Mrs. Myers. She would never say anything, but just give me a little nod and simple smile. The further I got into the book, the more I would think to myself, “You can do this April. They are all words you know, nothing to be afraid of.” Then that significant moment happened, I finally did get through the book. I remember it as clear as day just as I was flipping through the final few pages on the ABC carpet with Mrs. Meyers, stained with unknown substances. Being in a classroom full of first grade children, of course there were numerous distractions but the only thing I could keep my eyes on were the pictures of that same young boy growing into an elderly man, still maintaining a lifelong friendship with that same tree that eventually became a stump. As soon as I finished reading aloud that last page with an almost smile, I looked to Mrs. Meyers and asked nervously, “How did I do?” She responded with a smile, leaned over, gave me a bear hug, and whispered, “You did awesome, and I am beyond proud of you.” Then suddenly that almost smile turned into the biggest smile; you would have thought I just won a year’s worth of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Even though those words seem so simple, they were very powerful to me. Hearing those few words lit up my world. Not only did I just read my very first book on my own, I read it perfectly! It gave me the confidence I needed to continue my journey with books. I then became fascinated by the idea of reading. All I ever wanted to do was read, because even at such a young age I still believed I was learning something new every time I flipped the page. I can remember coming home and yelling, “Mommy hurry up, hurry up, we have to go to the library and see what they have new!” Of course at this time the most complex books I would read were Dr. Seuss books, but it was a start to my beautiful bond with books. I could always remember my parents occasionally reading me a book before bed, but the tables turned after that day of reading The Giving Tree. I forced one or both of my parents, even my sister sometimes to sit down and
