Oh my gosh! Did you get grounded for the high offense of sneaking off and going into your closet with A LIGHT BULB THAT USES ELECTRICITY AND WE ARE NOT RICH!! and a book? My mom was always busting me for that, and her mother, my grandma was like that too.
Grandma lived on a dairy farm with Gramps and 3 sons (other 3 kids were allowed to get married, lol! Grandma was BOSS). so, at the farm, you get up before the sun, go to bed right about sunset in the summer, and in between, I had to work. Mostly in the house. I hated that! Grandma had a thing about girls being in the barn milking the cows (huge dairy farm). She always wanted me right at her elbow cos I was fast and good at hiding. My uncles wouldn't cover for me, cos she would ream them good if she found out they let me drive tractor during hay season or shovel sileage at feeding time.
After many summer week-long stints at the farm, I finally figured it out. Grandma would freak if she found me hiding under my bed reading. So...of course the uncles had taught me to saddle the horse on my own. So, I'd sneak a book under my shirt, sneak out to the pig barn where the horse lived, saddle up and head for the east pasture, right down by the willow tree. GRANDMA COULDN'T SEE THAT FAR FROM THE KITCHEN WINDOW OR THE BACK PORCH!
Then I'd sit there and read. I got away with it alot, and get a ride in also and thought I was fooling the old dear. Nope, no way. Turns out all the neighbors (4 other farms on the country block) would call Grandma and report my process across their fields!
As a result of my fight for my right to be a bookworm, no one ever checked what I was reading. Other Grandma knew I liked to read in first grade. She gave me a copy of "5 Little Peppers" and told me if I could read it and give a good book report, she'd always buy me books for birthday and Christmas. I did, and she did. She gave me the classics (Little Women in 2nd grade). But the library ladies never commented on my choices. As a result...
I read "Valley of the Dolls" in 4th grade, kept looking for the part about the dolls. Did read the whole book, that was a rule. Total Waste!
Read Erica Jong's "Fear of Flying" in the 6th grade...Good Grandma was going to fly me from my town to hers, and I hadn't flown before, so I didn't know if I was afraid of flying or not. Just in case, I got a book about what to do if you're afraid of flying...Lol! That book I retained very much from.
Did you know that voracious readers also become story tellers?
Well, I didn’t get to Valley of the Dolls in the 4th grade, but I did check out “The Old Man and the Sea in the 6th grade, and because I was raised to not show emotion, I was ill prepared to FEEL the emotion the novel brought.
I did not know if I should pity the man or the whale or myself for having read about it. During this same year, I found myself in a bit of trouble and as punishment had to memorize a classic poem and speak it in front of the class.
I chose The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe, which brought about a desire to read the rest of his works, including the telltale heart. To this day, I fear, without cause, being buried alive. I shall be cremated as a result.