Reading the acknowledgement page of my daughter’s book club book, Three Times Lucky, the author, Sheila Turnage thanks her parents for instilling in her the love of reading.

Thinking of my own love of reading and wondering when it developed, I remember being so excited for library day in elementary school.  There was what I remember to be a structure known as The Pit which we, the students, basically fought one another for in order to claim the ideal spot.  We were even allowed to drape our legs over the back of the structure if we wanted which, at the time, seemed so scandalous.  Now I think if I attempted to sit on The Pit, I don’t think I would be able to walk right for a week;  padding was definitely not a component of The Pit.  The librarian (aaah, when all school libraries employed librarians) would read us stories in The Pit much to our delight, and then ultimately a uniform groan would rise from The Pit when our teacher told us it was time to return to class.  I can still feel the disappointment of quality storytelling coming to an end.

So, for today’s Writing Workshop Wednesday, who or what instilled your love of reading?