Dear Ms. Z: Answers to Your Life as a Reader

For Teacher Twinkle, and to loyal readers of the blog.

1. What is your earliest memory of reading/of a book?

I can still remember the smell of the book my mother read aloud to me when I was a child of five or four. It was a book about a little red hen and a cunning fox. I can no longer recall how the story goes but the smell, I remember well. It smelled of mantekilya and fresh pandesal. 

And then, there was the dinosaur book my mother brought home from the library where she worked. The book was big and so were the dinosaurs that regaled every page. Most impressive for me were the diplodocuses that moved in herds. One spread of the book showed how long a diplodocus is by lining up several buses to illustrate its length and stacking up a good number of people to show its tremendous height. I wondered if such animals really existed so I asked my mother this question. She had nothing to say but, a few weeks after, she brought home a children's encyclopedia volume D. That was my first lesson on research and reference sources. 

How can I not love books when the ones that made an impact on me as young child amazed me and aroused my sense of wonder. Furthermore, I had associated a book read aloud to me with comfort food. What joy!

Later on, my mother brought home Dr. Seuss, Frog and Toad are Friends, Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. She brought me to the library where she worked and there, I met cool librarians and teachers working with kids my age and older. In the library where they worked, they have shelves for the works of children who wrote stories and books. In the library where they worked, I was allowed to choose books I could read. 

One particular summer I visited the library, I met King Midas, the Greek Gods and Jose Aruego's Juan and the Aswangs. I read Dumbo and Peter Pan, and as the years progressed, I was introduced to Judy Blume and Katherine Patterson. All the Newbery and Caldecot awardees of the time, I got to read them as well the Printz Prize winners during my high school years. Yes, I read foreign authors.

It was only in college when I read my first Filipino novel. 

2. What or who made you like reading/books?

I think I answered this question already. See number 1. 

But I wish to stress that if not for my grandmother's knack for storytelling, I wouldn't enjoy my mom's reading aloud as much. The stories my grandmother told me prepared me for more fantastic stories found in the printed page.

3. Did anyone read to you when you were a child? If yes, who was this? 

Refer to questions 1 and 2 as I have mentioned people in my family as influential to my reading journey. 

My school teachers read aloud from textbooks. Our school library was limited. My grandmother, other than being a fascinating storyteller, had a sari-sari store and she rented out komiks. I read Aliwan, Funny Komiks, Filipino Komiks, etc. So, there. That was another literacy experience of reading from my childhood years.

In high school, I had a small circle of friends and we were all book lovers. We had book swaps and reading time. Then we talk about the books we have read at lunch and at recess. Ah, my wonder years!

4. Do you still like reading until now?

Yes. It is the reason why I never left school librarianship. What I discovered over the years is that, those who love books and reading are willing enough to share this love with others. Now this is the reason why I am still in the board of the Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY).

5. Why do you like reading/books?

Books spark joy! I want to share the joy books bring with others.