I thought it appropriate as this is the ‘First Page Book’
blog to make my first ever post about first novels read as a child. Yes it’s a post
about firsts!
I asked my uni facebook friends to contribute and as our
ages range from Gen Y to baby boomer I got some familiar and some (to me)
completely unknown responses. I think
what fascinated me most was the similarity in our reading experiences and the
obvious love we all have for reading. Not surprising I guess since we are all
embarked on a degree in Librarianship! Some of us started reading ‘chapter
books’ at the quite early age of 5 or 6. Little Golden Books and Dr Seuss
featured as popular first reads. Enid
Blyton also featured prominently from Famous Five and The Magic Faraway Tree to
Tales of Brave Adventure.
I have to confess to a 3 year obsession with Famous Five. I
read the entire series of 21 books many times between the age of six and nine. I
read Five go to Kirren Island (involving an intensely exciting day from after
breakfast to late afternoon)around the age of six. I wanted to be George the
tomboy wandering the countryside with a dog, having wonderful adventures. I really only started growing out of them
when I was given a box set of the Narnia series for my ninth birthday and I
entered a whole new series of adventures in other worlds.
Other examples of ‘first reads’ were Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys,
Trixie Beldon, Judy Blume, Shirley Barber and Mary O’Hara. Some collected and
devoured the Babysitter club series others read the mystery books where you
could select the path the characters could take in the story. Whether you
started with Grimms Fairy Tales or the Lion King picture book, it seems most of
us were seeking adventure and mystery from our reading as kids.
Novels aside, our first read is usually our reception
primer. Mine was The Happy Venture Readers which we had to read as a class out
loud… do they still do that? I can still
remember 40 years later, the cadence and
drone of thirty odd 6 year olds reading…
“Here is Dick. Run,
Dick, run. Nip is a dog. Nip, run to Dick. See Dora run.”
So what was your first real experience of
reading for yourself? How did it influence your reading as you grew up? If you
have children do you read the same books to them?
