Free Reading Challenges: Literacy Narrative
Growing up, reading was always one of my favorite things to do. I used to love summer reading for school, which all of my friends made fun of me for. In the first grade, I actually asked my teacher if she could give me homework to do because I loved the idea of school and learning. My parents always knew I was going to grow up to be a bookworm. In fact, my mom, my Auntie Stacy, and myself used to have a little book club. We called it the “Cool Girls Only Club” (I came up with the name). Obviously, I was reading at a much lower level than my mom and my Auntie Stacy, but I liked to pretend I could keep up. They often read their own books without me, and I would eavesdrop as they would discuss them. They fell in love with the book series Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, which was about a vampire, human, werewolf love triangle. Naturally, my curiosity was peaked. I had seen this series on TV commercials a million times. I wanted to know more.
The next day, I went to Walmart with my grandmother as I usually did on Sundays. If I was good in the store, she would let me shop in the book department so that I could get a new book; I was able to get one almost every week. I found Twilight, the book everyone was going crazy about, and I asked my grandmother if I could get it. Her being as innocent and cute as she was, and not knowing what the series was about, let me buy it. In school, we had specific time every Friday that was for free reading. I planned to start bringing this book to school and surprise my mom and aunt by joining in on their conversation one time.
On Friday, I brought my free reading book with me to school. I sat in the front row next to Julie Amico, who was really good at drawing, and Mark Southerden, who was allergic to peanut butter. I really liked Julie, but Mark freaked me out. I had a hard time trusting him because he didn’t like peanut butter. Mrs. Lawrence, my fourth grade teacher, told us to take out our free reading books and start reading.. so I did. She always did a few laps around the room, partly because she was interested in what everyone was reading, but mostly to make sure that everyone was staying focused on their book. She came back around to the front of the room when she noticed I was reading Twilight. She immediately grabbed the book out of my hands. She started to cause a scene in front of the whole class about how she thought that book was out of my reading level, and I wasn’t old enough, or smart enough to read it. I was so embarrassed, I could feel my face turn bright red, and I instantly wanted to cry. Part of me really wanted to embarrass her back by pointing out her mustache in front of the whole class and then grab my book back, but I was able to refrain myself, probably for the better.
I asked to go to the nurse where I lied and told her my tummy didn’t feel good so that she would send me home. My mom picked me up, and I went home and cried all night. My mom emailed Mrs. Lawrence to make sure that I would get my book back the next day in school. She was a little nervous about me reading Twilight, but she didn’t want to be another person in my life telling me that I couldn’t do something. My sadness had turned to anger, and I was set on proving to Mrs. Lawrence that I was smart enough to read that book.
I went on to read the whole series. It became the first book series I had read, and it also became my favorite book series still to this day. I wouldn’t let Mrs. Lawrence set limitations on my life, or make me feel bad about myself for trying to push my limits. It by far was one of the worst experiences I had ever dealt with, but it may have shaped me for the better.