Goosebumps

Our trip across country was a wonderful memory that was brought about by this experience of creating my Bio Book Bag. As I was trying to organize my thoughts and ideas about who I am today as a reader and writer I found myself not only looking through old books and collections but also looking through old memory boxes and pictures that I have collected over the years. As I was rummaging through an old photo box, I came across a picture of me with my dad and sister standing over the Grand Canyon. As I studied the picture, a gush of memories came back to me about that day and the many days leading up to that moment spent in our van driving from California to New Hampshire. An exciting (I say this with sarcasm at times) experience it was spending long hour less days in the car, stopping for food, hotels, and sights along the way. However, it was this trip in its entirety that really allowed me to sit back and realize that I could enjoy reading for just that...reading. I could escape in the mysteries of my Goosebump books from the long, drawn out and endless hours in the cramped space that became our home for those 2 weeks. It was during this trip, and the never ending collection of Goosebump books that I acquired along the way, that I really began to understand that reading could be something fun and could be done for pleasure...not just something that had to be done. This is something that still affects me to this day. I want to instill this same idea into the students in my classroom. I want that light bulb to click on, or that series to be discovered that allows them to really enjoy reading, escape in a book and be able to experience the same excitement that I get when opening up a book.