The Owl and the Pussycat

went to sea in a beautiful pea-green boat... That was my book, The Owl and the Pussycat; the one that I had memorized. Actually, it was only one of many that I memorized before I could actually read, but it was my favorite, because it was the one my father read to me, and the only one that I remember in its entirety to this day. Now I read that book to my son, and he can recite the whole thing now that he is learning to read.

I too do not remember much about the actual process of learning to read. I mean, I remember sitting in class learning about phonics and words, but I already knew how to read by then, so I think that's why I remember it so well. I know that I learned to read very quickly; my mother tells me that one day, I couldn't read, save for a few sight words and my memorized stories, and the next day, I could read everything. Everything, within reason, I guess. I don't know if it was really that quick, but I do know that something kind of clicked with me when I started reading, and it seemed to make a lot of sense very fast.

I was also one of the kids who would be through the whole story to be read aloud in class very early, but I was also one who wanted the longest passage or paragraph, so that I could "perform" as long as possible. That shows now...I spend as much time as I feel I have available doing theatre. I suppose that could have been predicted since first grade!