“For students of every ability and background, it’s the simple, miraculous act of reading a good book that turns them into readers, because even for the least experienced, most reluctant reader, it’s the one good book that changes everything. The job of adults who care about reading is… to put that book into a child’s hands.”
— NANCIE ATWELL (2007), AS cited in Bright (2021)
One of my clearest memories about developing a love of reading came from around Christmas when I was six years old. My family was up in 100 Mile House visiting my Aunt and her family, and she gave me my first Amelia Bedelia book for Christmas. I LOVED that book and read it again and again all the way back to Creston on our 10 hour drive (definitely something I could never do nowadays!). I found the book to be absolutely hilarious and I remember being ecstatic to see that our school library had a ton of Amelia Bedelia books that I could read when I returned to school after winter break.
A year later, two young girls immigrated to our school from Germany. Neither of them spoke English. One of them was in my class and her sister was in my Dad’s class at the school. I was buddied up with them during our Buddy Reading time and shared my love for Amelia Bedelia books. I had forgotten this detail until they reminded me of it again years later. They said that they remember those early days of listening to these funny stories, not knowing a lot of English at the time, but being able to connect through the love of reading a story.
