The Polar Express By Chris Van Allsburg

My favorite children’s book from when I was a child was The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. One of the memories I have of this book is reading it on Christmas Eve. Every year my family would go to my Aunt Niece’s house. There would be many children there from all ages. We would gather around and someone would read us this book. It was one of my favorite traditions from when I was a child. When I initially learned how to read, I distinctly remember the Bob Books I had to read. Not only did my mother buy me these books but my teacher also sent home similar books for me to read. Following this, my mom would read me Dr. Seuss books, which eventually I learned how to read. From there I would read many other books that children normally read like Clifford The Big Red Dog. I had many difficulties when I first learned how to read. I did not like reading very much. I would have rather been outside playing in the mud. Also, I was not a very strong reader, which deterred me from practicing. I enjoyed being read to more than anything else. This inhibited me from learning how to read very fast. Once I finally learned to read, I did pick up of a book very often to read until I was older.

When I was in school, I went to speech class for six years. This caused me a lot of frustration when I was learning how to read., especially when I had to read aloud in class. There were nine sounds I could not say, which made it difficult when reading aloud. It required a lot of concentration for me to make the words sound correct. This made me dislike reading even more. Eventually, somewhere between second and third grade, everything clicked. I read the Barbie chapter books, Little House on the Prairie, American Girl, and Cam Jensen books. When I found the Cam Jensen books, I really got into