Hi, My Name is Jakyra and I Was Once a Major Bookworm.

Where the Wild Things Are. The Cat in the Hat. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. These are all books that I remember from that early snotty nose, Britney Spears lunchbox carrying, part of my life. Now that my cousin is in kindergarten these popular titles tend to come up and cause me to reminisce. I think of a time when words weren't words but were a series of letters put together. Then, I would have take the sounds that the letters made and figure out how to say the word out loud. I also think of the paper books that were given with one sentence per page and four sentences total, and my teacher expected me to come home and read to my mother. Little did my teacher know, I not only read it to my mom, but I read it to my sister, my dad, my grandma, and even my dog! The only thing that I hated was after I read it once or twice I would memorize the four sentences and grow bored with them. Yet I still read them to everyone who would listen, or pretend to listen rather. I also kept the little leaflet books. I put them in a little box at the top of my closet, and I recently threw them away when I moved from my previous house to my current one.

One very predominant memory of reading at an early age was in 2nd grade in Mrs. Henry's room. I remember most of other kids hated AR reading time, but I LOVED it. I wasn't the only kid in my class who loved to read. There were two other kids who loved reading, Taylor Nemenz and James Atwood. These two kids were also unaveragely smart, I would say that we were the smartest kids in our class. We were also the three best friends that anyone could ever have, and we were always battling for the top AR reader. It was usually Taylor, then me, then James, but there were times when the order would change. It was all in competitive fun and never harmed our friendship.

 2nd grade was also the year when I found my love with book series. The very first set of books that I read was Junie B. Jones series. I loved these books because, being only a few years older than her, I could easily relate to her and she was funny. I loved her so much I looked to Junie B. Jones as a best friend. It was such an obsession to the point where whenever I finished the book I would rush to the shelf  to get the next book. Until, sadly, one day I read the last book of the series. I was devastated. I literally broke out in to tears. Luckily, Mrs. Henry came to my rescue with a new book series, the Judy Moody series. After that I was able to find my own series books such as; A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Boxcar Children, Harry Pottter, and eventually my all time favorite, The Twilight Saga.

I used to LOVE reading… It’s not that I hate it now I just never have time to read. Also, I've figured out that it is one of the reasons my perception of love and relationships is so screwed up. Currently movies worsen my idea of the “perfect relationship.” Anyway, I found out my lost love was definitely derived from my mom. It seems she has had the same issue, she just doesn't have the time. I think that is an issue for all teens and adults who once loved reading, but I think if we try hard enough that we can find time to rekindle the old flame.