When I was a child, I read ALL the time. My siblings were both older than me and both my parents worked full time. I spent a lot of time alone and reading was my escape. In fact, I think I read every book in our school library. I'd go to our library almost every day before school to pick out a new book and our wonderful librarian always knew which books I'd enjoy. She'd set them aside for me even. Books were my fantasy life and I drank it all in.
I also had some wonderful teachers who read to us after lunch each day. It was a nice way to ease back into schoolwork after the lunch break. I don't think any of my children's teachers read them chapter books. It's too bad because I have wonderful memories. My first grade teacher, Mrs. B., read books like The Boxcar Children, but my favorite book she read to us was B Is for Betsy.
I looked for this book when my daughter was younger and couldn't find it! How I wish she'd had it to read. I suppose you could call Betsy the Junie B. Jones of my generation!
The book is a simple story about simpler times-- definitely an Ozzie and Harriet book--but it hooked me on reading. I checked it out from the library and later read the entire series. It may not have been first grade, but I know this was my first chapter book. In another of the books, Betsy got a baby sister for Christmas. They named her Star which at the time, was amazing to the 8 year old reading the book!
When I look back on my childhood, so many of my memories are about the books I read and the time I spent hanging out in our neighborhood. How times have changed. We didn't have video games(ok, we did get an Atari when I was 10 or 11) and we didn't sit in the house all day watching TV. Of course there was no internet.
At least I had my books.
