I started out on Cam Jansen mysteries and Kit Kittredge American Girl books. I remember sitting in a Barnes & Nobel with my mom one day and being so proud of myself because I finished a Cam Jansen in just one sitting (average about thirty pages and size 12 font.) But as you can imagine, being the reader that I am now, I was very excited to have accomplished such a thing in the first grade. Then in second/third grade came Kit Kittredge. My mom and I read the first two together every night before bed, and I loved it. I loved the pictures, I loved Kit (for those of you who know AG, Kit’s the aspiring reporter. A writer! How fitting!), and I especially loved reading about the Great Depression, in the 1930’s – a time I hadn’t learned about in school yet and was pretty much all new to me.

I’ve loved to read for as long as I can remember. I loved Patricia Palacco and Dr. Suess and David A. Adler (author of Cam Jansen, and a legendary best mystery writer even just several years ago as far as I was concerned), and Ann M. Martin (still one of my favorites!) and a bunch of other names I’ve forgotten over the years. And the reason is simple: as I outgrow books, I discover new ones. Isn’t that so cool?!

I’ve been through book phases, too – I’m pretty sure we all have, yes? Historical fiction. Nancy Drew’s. Fairy tale retellings. Been there, done that. And now I’m here – in my very wide yet still never far out of my box – my comfort zone – through all the books that I began with and all the books and corners Barnes & Noble held and my library directs me to and I find myself discovering new books and genres everyday… all thanks to the books I started off with that journeyed through here. And I’ll still keep finding new books and authors that I love! And I love that! 🙂

So what brought you to the genre of books you now read? What did you start out on? Have your tastes in books changed over the years, or have some books stuck with you for the past few years?