Tracing My Love Affair With Reading: A History
My earliest memory of reading, naturally, traces back to a nursery classroom when I was four or five years old. There was our class teacher, taking us through the most celebrated reading manual of the day, Sound and Read . Book one was black and yellow and book two was black and blue. Both had the simple drawing of two very African humans, complete with the wide noses and distinct afros, of a child and his instructor. Book two was more technical than book one, and for this reason, I held a secret fear for it. This was soon overcome once I crossed the initial hurdles and milestones that came with learning to read. The realisation that I could receive information without speaking was electrifying. I felt like a new hero who had just received her superpowers, or rather someone who had suddenly landed a windfall. Nothing seemed beyond me at that point. Soon enough, I was enjoying books from the Ladybird series, whenever I could get some. What was not to love about those books? With th...