Reading History of a Current Non-Reader

                  As a child, reading was one of my favorite pass times. I read a wide variety of books; it was hard to count the number of books I read! From when I started, I went on a steep incline, reading more and more as time went on. However, I hit a climax, and my reading began to decline from there.
                  My reading history began as a toddler, around the age of three years. Every night before bed, my mother would read a short children's book to me. After a while of me just listening to the story, she decided it was about time for me to read some of it myself; so I did. I could not read the whole story on my own at first (I needed some help), but over time, I could read the short stories independently. This was just the start of my reading.
                  By the time I was in first grade, around the age of six, I was reading small children's novels with little to no help. All through first and second grade, my absolute favorite books were the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. Once I was introduced to the first book, I was hooked. I read nearly every Magic Tree House novel ever written (at the time). I thought I couldn't find a better group of books.
                  When I was introduced to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J. K. Rowling, my love for the Magic Tree House books was over; I moved on quickly. For the next several years, I read every Harry Potter book and became a huge fan of the series. I loved the books so much that I read some of them more than once! I also went to the midnight opening of the seventh and final book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." Once I finished this novel, Harry Potter was over, and my reading began to decline.
                  I still read after the end of the magical series, but the amount of books and frequency of my reading decreased, and started on downhill slope. Our school's reading program, A.R. (Accelerated Reading), began to be counted as a grade in middle school, which added a tremendous amount of stress to reading. Students would have to struggle to read a certain amount of books on a certain reading level in a certain amount of time, and if they didn't achieve their goal, the did not recieve a good grade. On top of that, the advanced reading class, of which I was a part, began to have reading assignments over the summer. We had to read books and short stories, such as "Sleepy Hollow" and "Silas Marner", that bored us all to death.
                  Over the next few years of having no fun whatsoever when reading, I slowly, but surely, came to a  point where I read no more. I read some things, such as newspapers (mainly the sports section), but I currently will only read books when I have to for school; otherwise, I have no interest in it.

I Am

I am musical and friendly

I wonder how things would change if I had never been born

I hear musical notes in my head

I see me in a good future

I want to be the best person I can be

I am musical and friendly

I pretend not to care

I feel happy, yet sometimes lonely

I touch the sky in my dreams

I worry that I'm not half the man I'm expected to be

I cry at the thought of losing a loved one

I understand that people make mistakes

I say that God forgives those mistakes

I dream of the future

I try to make the grades

I hope that I have a great life ahead of me

I am musical and friendly

The Amazing Transformation

                As the tale of "The Most Handsome Drowned Man in the World" comes to a end, the final section describes the view that passing ships have of the beautiful village on the shore, now known as Esteban's Village. However, this village was not near as beautiful in the earlier sections of the story. It was not such an appealing village. The small town went through an amazing transformation over the course of the story, and I believe that the town underwent this change because of one thing: a recent guest in their village. This guest was the most handsome drowned man in the world, who the villagers affectionately named Esteban.
                When the mysterious floating figure was seen drifting through the ocean waves, things began to change for the small seaside community. As the figure finally washed to the shore, the people identified it as a dead and abnormally large man. Aside from his size, there was something very different about this man. To both the men and the women, he was thought of as the most perfect man they had ever laid eyes on. They took him in, and after the women came and worked together to clean him and make clothes for him, the men prepared a grand funeral for Esteban. During the funeral, as soon as they lowered him into the ground, there was immediate mutual sadness among everyone there. They missed Esteban, as they piled the dirt into the grave. They would never find a more perfect man to reside in their village. However, although Esteban's body was gone, his spirit lived on.
                Esteban and his spirit had united the villagers. The women had come together to clean and clothe him, the men had worked together to bury him respectfully, and the whole town united to weep for him as he was lowered into the earth. And even after Esteban's burial, they did things out of respect for the spirit of their deceased friend that brought extreme improvements to the town. They expanded their doorways and reenforced their floors so that the spirit could comfortably come into their homes. They planted flowers throughout the village, and dug for natural springs among the rocks. They painted their houses in lively colors, and, finally, renamed the village Esteban's Village. The village had transformed. The small depressing town on the shore had become a completely new village.
                The village had been blessed by the short presence of Esteban; he not only transformed their village, but he united the villagers like never before.



http://www.cardinalhayes.org/ourpages/auto/2006/8/22/1156300239992/The%20Handsomest%20Drowned%20Man%20in%20the%20World%20Text.pdf