Anthonee Butler
Essay 1, Draft 1
9/25/2013

I was exposed to reading at a young age. My earliest reading memory was my mother reading Dr. Seuss books to me when I was four or five. I used to enjoy seeing the pictures in the books more then I liked being read too. I also use to enjoy watching the characters in the books on television. As a kid I was in love with talking animals. I thought that was the coolest thing in the world. The Arthur series was a big influence growing up. I remember one Christmas I got a stack of Arthur books and I was the happiest kid in the world. That whole week my mother would help me read the books and then I would watch the show on television right after. As I grew older, I started to enjoy reading horror books. I also liked horror films and I think that influenced what I liked to read. I really liked the Goosebumps series and could read them all day. I prefer to read about things that interest me. It’s hard for me to read something that doesn’t have my interest. In high school, I rarely read about something that interested me. At a young age, my grandmother would tell me stories about how she grew up in the south and how different the country was as a kid. She would tell me about how segregated it was and all about the civil rights movement and how it was a big part of her childhood. Hearing these stories that my grandmother would tell me made me want to learn more about the civil rights era in the south. A lot of things influenced me to read. When I read, I like to learn new things. Reading for me has also become a form of entertainment and also something to do to pass the time. In I spare time I prefer to read newspaper and magazine articles, to see what’s going on in the world.