Narrative Essay Reading

Reading is not something that comes so easy for every child. Sometimes, it takes patience on the teacher’s end, support from the parents, and a willingness to succeed from the child. I was this child. Initially, reading was something that I had to work for because it did not come easily to me, but my mother never gave up on me. Every since the age of 5, my mother would make me sit on her work table and read my AR book to her. It is because of her commitment and guidance that I am able to read well above the average percentile of my age group. At 5 years old, Mom picks me up from school and we go to the family-owned flower shop where I am forced to climb upon a large wooden station table that is covered in flowers of every kind and color.

This is my first year on the Intermediate School campus where we can read books, take the AR tests, a test over the book we have read to receive points, and get prizes such as colorful pencils, animal-shaped erasers, or sticky hands. At this point, I am reading on a 3rd-grade level, at the minimum place the teachers want a student to be. Because if this, my mom still made me climb up on her table and read out loud to her, my grandmother, and any customer that happens to wander through the front door looking for flowers. At 8 years old, I am finishing about 1 book per week but still struggling to pass all the tests which was a really frustrating thing because I hardly earned any of the prizes that my friends had and bragged about, yet my heels remained dug into the ground without budging about quitting.
Later, when the 3rd grade was over and Summer was here, I was still sitting on my mother’s workstation reading to her and anyone else that cared to listen. In the early stages of my reading, my mom was focused on the time I spent reading and the quantity, but she was not so focused on my understanding of the words or the story that was being told through them. So, we made the switch. Now, I was reading fewer books but gaining a better understanding of the words and the meaning of them. As soon as school started again, I was passing the AR tests and even passing my friends in AR