The name of the book was Katie John by Mary Calhoun.  My mom was friends with a lady who worked at the library and she gave her a box of books that were being discarded by the library.  This book was in that box.  Up to this point I would read every now and then but it wasn’t something I chose to do much in my free time.  I was in 3rd grade at the time and although I was a good reader, I didn’t see it as something to do except when you had to at school.  But this discarded book would change everything.  

I don’t know why this book caught my attention.  As you can see ,the cover is plain and not eye catching.  But for some reason, I picked it up and suddenly I found myself in this world of this little girl and it was as I had been transported to another world.  If you have never heard of this story, Katie John suddenly finds herself living in a huge old house that had belonged to an older family member who has passed.  Her family is only planning to stay here temporarily until the house is sold.  And of course since the house is old and at times she thinks haunted, her adventures begin.  

What was it about this book that completely drew me in?  Well it was partly the adventures she had with a friend she makes who lives close by.  But it was also because Katie John was someone who I connected with.  I was always more of a Tom boy growing up and that was Katie John.  She was someone who like me would never wear a dress unless made to and wasn’t afraid of a little dirt.  I saw myself in her and sometimes I imagined I was Katie John as I went on those adventures with her. 

This book was just the beginning for me.  Not long after that my mom arranged for the Book Mobile to stop at our house during the summer.  I became good friends with those ladies on that bookmobile and they quickly introduced me to Nancy Drew.  I devoured every Nance Drew book I could get me hands on and those sweet ladies always made sure there was a new one in the series each week waiting for me when they made their weekly visit.  

That was the beginning of a journey I continue to take as I still love to read.  Sometimes it is biographies as I dive into the story of someone else’s life,  At times it is historical fiction and I find myself taken to another time and place.  And of course the whole Harry Potter series will always be one of my most favorites.  

But it all began with a little discarded book that for some reason had been taken on the shelf in a library and found it’s way to a box in my house.  And now as a teacher, my goal is to help my students  find that character in a book that they see themselves in and hopefully it will begin their own love of reading.  Hopefully they will find their own “Katie John”  and this amazing world of reading will become their own.