Immalee's reading story

I was home educated initially and my dad tried to teach me to read when I was five. My earliest reading memory is sitting on papa’s knee, him pointing out words and me not remembering them, guessing from the pictures. My first reading books were ones that papa had made for us, with me and my siblings as characters, and the characters from Winnie the Pooh, sometimes in the same books, I think. They started off very simple – “this is Immalee. Here is Immalee. Immalee is a girl, etc” but I refused to learn – I think I was a stubborn child. I liked reading lessons though, I loved sitting on papa’s knee and having all his attention. He must have had a great deal of patience as he persevered with me and we progressed onto a ladybird series with Jane, Peter and Pat the dog. Looking back they were horrendously gender-stereotyping and old fashioned.

Then someone gave me The Wishing Chair Again by Enid Blyton for my eighth birthday. It was mine, I knew it was slightly disapproved of, and I learnt to read all in one go and read it straightaway.

After that I read and reread all of the children’s books I could get my hands on. Our house was full of secondhand books and I was free to read as much as I wanted. I read lots of picture books and some of my favourites were The Red Balloon, The Hungry Caterpillar and Where the Wild Things Are.

Then I read novel-sized children’s books. I remember Jennings and Derbyshire, (hilarious boarding school adventures) Just William, Malcolm Saville’s books (adventure stories) Colin Dann’s books (The Animals of Farthing Woods and others).

I liked realistic books about real-sounding children – no fantasy! I liked animals a lot as a child and I loved Paul Gallico’s Jenny (about cats). I exclusively read fiction. I had strong opinions as a young child and I had decided that history was boring and therefore never read anything factual. Science wasn’t something I was really aware of until I was older.

I read with my sister a lot – we read the same books often, sometimes even at the same time (it inevitably ends in arguments). My brothers did read too, but not nearly as much, and they tended to read travel literature and books that I thought were boring. We all read and loved Herge’s Adventures of Tintin and the Asterix and Obelix books (that was my sole source of history knowledge for a long time!)

Reading was very much approved of, especially ‘good’ books. Somehow this didn’t make it something that wasn’t mine – reading has always felt like a private thing that I did for myself, not because I was supposed to.

I read what there was on the shelves at home initially, as well as choosing books that I liked the look of at the library. These included more up to date popular fiction. I went through a huge phase of Sweet Valley High and other American teen fiction. Part of this was rebellion, but partly those books are very addictive and provide an easy way to ‘veg out’, or switch off, and not think. My family didn’t have a television and so books took its place for me.

I had an understanding of the distinction between ‘good’ and ‘popular’ fiction from when I was very young, but I like both – different forms of literature have different purposes.

Enid Blyton was considered trashy, and my dad doesn’t think very highly of American writers and tends to be more in favour of older authors. Crime and detective fiction was definitely ‘below’ other kinds of fiction – relegated to the shelves that sometimes got damp.

From when I was maybe eleven or twelve I started reading more widely. Papa would suggest books to me – when I said I’d run out of things to read he would go and get a stack of different books for me to read. We would discuss the books I had read and his recommendations were based on what I had liked as well as introducing me to new genres or books he felt that I should read.

My dad would often say poems to us, like The Owl and the Pussycat, The Jabberwocky, Mathilda Who Told Such Dreadful Lies. I learnt to say The Owl and the Pussycat and repeated it ad nauseam. I don’t think I thought of them as poems though, more like songs without tunes.

Papa read to us every night. He read Swallows and Amazons and lots of other books. He read very well – made different voices for the different characters and brought the books to life. He was often very tired though, and the stories were never enough. After he’d finished reading I would read until sometimes 3 or 4 in the morning. I’m pretty sure my parents wouldn’t have disapproved, they probably even knew, but I did it secretly.

As part of our home education my dad made spelling tests. We would have a list of words to learn all week and then at the end of the week he would tell a story that incorporated all of the words off our lists. When we heard one of our words we had to write it down. I loved this! He hated school and tests and was always slightly bemused by how much we loved tests. He seemed to really enjoy making up the stories and we looked forward to it.

Initially home was school for me. For schoolwork at home we read our way through several Shakespeare plays – whichever one that was being produced that year by the local (but quite good) amateur dramatics group and then we would go and see it.

When I went to school I found the others in my class pitifully slow at reading, although reading out loud in class was a good challenge. My English teacher introduced me to a greater variety of books, and the idea of critically examining what I read rather than just consuming it.

Now I read mostly modern and contemporary novels and short stories. I still read a lot, but in some periods more than in others. I still read in bed at night and fall asleep reading almost every night. I sometimes try and read something different – non-fiction or poetry for example, but I struggle anything that isn’t a novel. Of course this course is causing me to read a great deal and with lots of variety and I am very much enjoying that.

Not having a television while I was growing up has been a significant factor in making me a fluent reader. It meant that I learnt to read books for entertainment and relaxation as well as for education. Because reading was easy for me I read a great deal, which in turn makes more reading easy for me.

I have adopted many of my dad’s attitudes to reading. I think that it is a valuable and fascinating exercise and that I can be ambitious in my reading. I don’t feel as if there is anything that is too difficult for me to read.

I have also reacted against some of my dad’s attitudes to literature. While I was at university studying Art I came to appreciate the value of current work and I often seek out very up to date fiction. I want to know what is happening now in literature.

It took me a long time to find enjoyment in poetry, but that came through finding exciting contemporary poets and realising that poetry didn’t just mean barely comprehensible epics like The Ancient Mariner. I still find it very hard to read non-fiction. My attention wanders off without the pull of the narrative.

I have a fierce desire to find out things for myself. I want to read the classics so that I can form my own opinions on them and not resort to repeating other people’s views or use any generally accepted ideas. I want to find out about the world and understand how people behave and interact and that remains one of my key motivations for reading.

I have read lots of different books and that makes it easier for me to access more books, because I am familiar with settings, styles and techniques and therefore don’t stumble over them so much.

I think of books as something to be valued very highly – but they are also a normal part of everyday life. Looking back there hasn’t been a time when I didn’t read constantly. I feel completely lost without having a book on the go.

M. Dalby (1976) said that successful readers have
- a parent who valued education and are interested in their progress
- and were initially interested in print generally and the environment around them.
- were likely to belong to library and have access to wide variety of books.
- had an adult who read and talked to them about books.

I had all of these. My upbringing was so privileged in these ways and I can hardly see how I would have not become a successful reader!

Hi Immalee,

I am fascinated to hear about your home schooling - It sounds like it really worked for you. I wish I hadn't watched so much TV when I was growing up and hardly miss it at all now I don't have one. Like you, I usually fall asleep with a book on my bed! Amanda x

Dalby has a point, all of those aspects were present in my parents and I feel the same it sets you up perfectly for having good reading skills!

how i managed to completely forget about tintin and asterix i don't know like you say i think a lot of my historical knowledge was based on asterix, hercules and ceasar etc, and tintin well he goes all over the world.................. i highly recommend looking up tintin on youtube, just to see what some teesiders have done with the stories.

Think these reading stories are great so many books that have been forgotten are being mentioned.

I like the word 'fierce' the way you used it...