Challenged to Read
Shivers, Zaneta

ZANETA: Hi, my name is Zaneta and the first time I started learning to actually read a book was when I was in the first grade and we have these reading cards that the kids would go and pick up cards and what was interesting was we had different colors and the different colors meant different levels of reading and you wanted to get to the gold level because that meant the highest level of reading. So it prompted us to really want to read different stories and excel in reading so we could get to the gold card and it was like a challenge for our class to try to get to the different levels. You had brown, you had green, you had red, you had blue, and then the ultimate color you wanted to get to was gold. So that really was the first thing that prompted me into wanting to read. And then I remember when I got to the fourth grade, my fourth grade teacher Ms. Adams would read books to us all the time and she read a book by Beverly Cleary, it was called "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" which is one of my favorite, favorite books. As she was reading the books to us, we got so engrossed in the book that I wanted to read every Beverly Cleary book so I went out to - had my mom go to different stores and libraries to find these books cause I really like them and I remember being second to Ramona Beezus and wanted to be Ramona, the bad little girl, because I imitated her, basically, as far as my behavior I was always doing mischievous things but it was just like I could see myself in the story so as I'm reading books - I still read to this day - it always took me on an adventure, I always became a part of the character and that's what made me want to read even more even when I'm at work. A lot of people ask me, "Why are you reading? You read so much, you read book after book after book." And I say, you know, "It gives me piece of mind because it takes me to a world that's not my own. It takes me to a world that is a fantasy world and, you know, not everything is gonna be peaches and cream." As I'm reading a lot of people ask me why I read a lot and it's because it takes me to different areas, I'm able to visit different places because the way the author would describe things that would actually put you there. [clears throat] So that's what I actually tell my children to do, especially my son because my son has this vivid imagination but to get him to read is kind of difficult and I'm trying to teach him how I was taught to read and to try to get him books that are interesting. I went and purchased him "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" to get him interested into books because he like motorcycles and he like mice and so he was into it but when he went to go re-describe it, it was like he couldn't put everything together as far as he wanted to let you know the book. So I told him, "When you're describing something, try to be as descriptive as you can be so it will put the person that you're describing the book to in the place of the book." And that's what reading does for me, you know, the descriptions of the book, it puts me in the actual place, it takes me on journeys, I actually become part of the character, the character becomes myself, and it's so fascinating the types of books I read like religious books, I read romance books, I read books that's in the 1800's, I read books that are love stories and religious fiction. So because of my teachers in elementary school, it just really prompted me to want to explore all these different areas and explore all these different adventures because reading is very, to me is very important. It helps you get through live, you know, you have to speak daily and reading helps you articulate and helps you be able to communicate to others and for those who are wanting to learn how to read, it's very important, I think it will help you in the long run. And that's what I get out of reading so thank you for listening, for taking the time to listen to me. That's all I have to say. 

SPEAKER: Thank you.