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(no subject)
Last night, I had an epiphany. Judith Martin (Miss Manners) was on the Colbert Report, and I told Jeff about finding one of her books when I was fourteen or so. One of the reasons I checked it out of the library was because it was a *small* temporary library (it was in a storefront in the mall near the Safeway) and I was running out of stuff to read. The thickness of the book was a large mark in its favor.
So, I was telling Jeff this and realized that, not everyone reads up to grade level, nor do they test out. (Huh?)
Okay. When I was in third grade, we were in a kindergarten room. Since we didn't need all the room, they used part of the room to store the books for other classes. We also had an in-room library. I can't remember if I didn't realize I wasn't supposed to read the other books or not. I don't think it ever occured to me, honestly. So, I found a big stack of *big* reading books (which was where I first read an excerpt from I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. I cannot adequately express how beautiful it was. She described a woman's skin as "dark as a plum, full to bursting with juice" (paraphrased) and I could see it. Hell, I could damn near *taste* it. That had never happened to me before. Maya Angelou is a remarkable writer)(and human being) (How many parentheses are we up to?)))) and dived happily into them. I was up to the eighth grade book when Mrs. Finney asked me what I was doing. (This took some time, and it's probably good that she didn't know I'd been taking them home with me over the weekends...) I told her I was reading the book. She said "That's an eighth grade book." I said okay. She said "Are you really reading it?" I allowed that I was. She looked at the bit I was reading and asked me about it. I answered all the questions I could.
The next day/weeek/something, I went to the office and they gave me a reading test. I think I was reading at eighth grade level, but it could have been seventh. Every year after that, they tested me and my reading level kept rising, till I tested out sometime in jr. high. I was either reading at college level or beyond.
And for all these years, I've figured that nearly everyone does that. Just that the majority of people don't do it as quickly as I did. When I was discussing the tiny library and my reading damn near everything that appealed to me in the place, it hit me that not everyone reads up to grade level (and while I'd always known that, I never knew it) and not everyone's reading level keeps getting higher till they're all at the same level(ish) somewhere in adulthood.
Wild.
So, I was telling Jeff this and realized that, not everyone reads up to grade level, nor do they test out. (Huh?)
Okay. When I was in third grade, we were in a kindergarten room. Since we didn't need all the room, they used part of the room to store the books for other classes. We also had an in-room library. I can't remember if I didn't realize I wasn't supposed to read the other books or not. I don't think it ever occured to me, honestly. So, I found a big stack of *big* reading books (which was where I first read an excerpt from I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. I cannot adequately express how beautiful it was. She described a woman's skin as "dark as a plum, full to bursting with juice" (paraphrased) and I could see it. Hell, I could damn near *taste* it. That had never happened to me before. Maya Angelou is a remarkable writer)(and human being) (How many parentheses are we up to?)))) and dived happily into them. I was up to the eighth grade book when Mrs. Finney asked me what I was doing. (This took some time, and it's probably good that she didn't know I'd been taking them home with me over the weekends...) I told her I was reading the book. She said "That's an eighth grade book." I said okay. She said "Are you really reading it?" I allowed that I was. She looked at the bit I was reading and asked me about it. I answered all the questions I could.
The next day/weeek/something, I went to the office and they gave me a reading test. I think I was reading at eighth grade level, but it could have been seventh. Every year after that, they tested me and my reading level kept rising, till I tested out sometime in jr. high. I was either reading at college level or beyond.
And for all these years, I've figured that nearly everyone does that. Just that the majority of people don't do it as quickly as I did. When I was discussing the tiny library and my reading damn near everything that appealed to me in the place, it hit me that not everyone reads up to grade level (and while I'd always known that, I never knew it) and not everyone's reading level keeps getting higher till they're all at the same level(ish) somewhere in adulthood.
Wild.
no subject
I can remember having to get a note from my teacher so that the librarian would let me check out 6th-grade books when I was in 3rd grade, and having to have my mom or older sister check out books from the adult section of the public library. That ended when I took some books back and the librarian asked me why I always brought their books back for them and I told her I was reading them, and we discussed one of the ones I'd just returned: Les Miserables....
Nowadays, of course, I don't read much that's more complicated than the Mrs Murphy mysteries. I think I wore out my brain in middle school.