I don’t really remember learning to read, but I do remember being read to a lot when I was young, there were books that I knew all the words from repetitive reading. When I was a little boy, my favourite book was There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake by Hazel Edwards about an imaginary Hippo on the roof eating cake, it turned out to be ‘special’ cake (whatever that means). This seemed to progress and my father use to always read books to the kids and as we grow up the books got more complicated and more interesting stories. I think this might have started my love of audiobooks; I just love being told a story, it’s very relaxing. My father read us the Spirit Flyer Series by John Bibee and The Cooper Kids Adventures by Frank Peretti. Even during primary school I remember story time and listening to Roald Dahl books.

These were my first memories of books, but I don’t really remember reading much back then. I do remember when my little brother and sister been born and reading children’s books with them, I remember In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak seemed to be a favourite of my little brother. To this day I remember the entire story of There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake and In the Night Kitchen, that I probably could recite the entire books by heart. Given the fact that I loved books and stories back then, I’m really surprised how long it took me to become a reader. I remember starting off as a very slow reader but I think I read at a decent speed now. Sometimes I wish I could read faster and retain more of the information but I’m happy that I found joy in reading. I really wish I knew more about learning how to read, I might have to ask my parents about that.