First Book Club Letter - UCI Writing Project: Summer Intensive 2012

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Dear Book Club,

I began to read at a very young age.  I believe I was four years old.  My cousin taught me.  I grew up among avid readers and a family that was active in debate, argument, and discussion.  My family holds story telling as an important way of connecting with one another, so, if I wasn’t indoctrinated at an early age - my voice would not be heard and I would not be considered an active part of our family.

I will never forget always wanting to be near my Great- Grandma Mabel when she would come to visit my grandfather.  She would crochet beautiful blankets and tell wonderful stories of our family history.  I still remember the story of how she met my great-grandpa Earl - she stole his horse.  He was a trick rider and jumped on the back of the horse and scared “the day-lights” out of her.  She also told another story about herself as a young girl walking to market to buy a bunch of bananas for the family.  She was so hungry on the walk back that she ate the whole bunch!  The bananas were green and she ended up throwing them up.  This morality tale was, of course, shared with me after I had eaten a whole jar of her home made pickles, drank the juice, and promptly threw up. 

I think it was this early exposure to stories and discussion that led to my hunger to read.  I was starving for stories!  I soon discovered Roald Dahl and immersed myself in Madeline L’Engle.  Once I stepped foot in the wardrobe of C.S. Lewis’ I never wanted to come out.  I couldn’t stop.  I would spend every summer at the library and I could (and still do) read many books at the same time.

When I immerse myself in a book, I am in that world - the movie in my mind.  I find it very easy to do this.  I think this ability may perhaps have contributed to what led to my first career as a stage performer.  I know this ability has been key to providing me with my “vision” as a director.

I have always loved series novels, so, I have chosen a book by Cassandra Clare titled City of Bones.  This book is Book One of the series.  I am interested in enjoying this book and seeing if it would be an appropriate book for me to introduce to my students.  I had tremendous success with The Hunger Games series this year and I believe series novels can be an effective way to hook a student  proclaiming to hate reading into becoming a lover of stories.

Kindest Regards - 

Danyelle