Reading Changed My Life - Townsend Press

Reading Changed My Life! Three True StoriesCompared with the poverty and occasional violenceof her home, school was a welcome refuge forJulia. “I loved school from day one,” she says. Herfirst reading books introduced her to Dick, Jane,and Spot, and to a lifelong love affair with books.“Reading came naturally to me,” she says. “But anyencouragement to read stopped at our front door.”Her parents were supportive of their children’sattending school. But the idea of reading for pleasurewas so foreign to them that they did not understandit in Julia.In addition, there was the problem of money.“To my parents, a book might as well have cost amillion dollars,” Julia explains. “If I did bring homea school book, they were afraid I’d lose it or damageit. So up it would go on top of the refrigerator,where it would be safe.”But Julia found a place where she could read toher heart’s content. That place was her Aunt Ruby’shouse, where she would often go to babysit. Aunt64