Gerald Graff Disliking Book Summary

Gerald Graff, who grew up fearing books, has a BA in English and known for his pedagogical theories. In the excerpt “Disliking Books” Graff, who grow up in a Chicago neighborhood and feeling he was in danger of being a middle class Jew, felt being a bookworm would have made matters worse. Graff grew up with a literate man as a father, who forced to him to read many books that he brought home. While never having the same experience as Graff, I loved books and was always racing to finish to start a new one.

When I Glanced inside the torn cardboard box that had “Family room” I discovered one of my mom’s old book named Petals on the Wind written by V. C. Andrews. While she was putting her already read books on the empty oak bookshelf, I asked her “would I be able to have this book?” Despite that it was a book above my reading level, she generally smiled and agreed. Over the years while we sat there watching television, my eyes would wonder like an antiquarian over to the old and new novels. Having my imagination running wild and wondering what type of adventures or mysteries lay inside. My family was firmly about education, with a father that was completing up his Masters and a mother who was continually reading, they both pushed us in the same direction.

When I was adopted with the two other siblings, I had a very bad time speaking and had ADHD (Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder).

Having ADHD, I had an issue sitting still and focusing and when they introduced books into my life, it helped a great deal. For instance, when finding the right book, I would take my psyche into an area where the character’s would hop out on to a motion picture screen where I would be sitting and watching the adventure. I would read it so quickly that I my mother didn’t trust I read every last bit of it and tell me to reread it. While in the library I would take hours to find books and genre that I wanted to

read.
While growing up to be the man I am currently, I began with the satisfaction of imagination books. It was a trip where I could take when problems started to happen in my life. When I was in middle school, I had a lot going on between school and home and needed to escape. Walking in the library after school, the sound of pages being turned and the trolley moving down the aisles with the middle age woman putting back the read books back to their proper resting place. I started to feel the excitement, that I would rush to the aisle and start my search. I stumbled upon an author by the Brian Jacques, who wrote a series of books call Red Wall. I remember the day when I opened that paperback book, having that feeling of excitement not knowing what adventure this book would take me. The time I started reading his books, I fell in love with his intense description of food. For example, from his first book he wrote “Brother Alf remarked that Friar Hugo had excelled himself, as course after course was brought to the table. Tender freshwater shrimp garnished with cream and rose leaves, devilled barley pearls in acorn puree, apple and carrot chews, marinated cabbage stalks steeped in creamed white turnip with nutmeg.” Reading Novels such as Red Wall made me who I am now, a person who can appreciate literature and wanting to further his education.
While Gerald Graff was pushed to books he did not like and ending up teaching, I was enjoying the plethora of books, no matter what genre. The bottom line is, despite Gerald Graff and I had different ways of developing Through life, we are similar in a small way, we both fell in love with literature. He went off to become a teacher and a well-known author, I am continuing my education in the hope of helping individuals a different way.