wonderful descriptions of what it's like to learn to read without being taught

[laura b]

from the book "gathering blue" by lois lowry

i just finished reading this again the other day and i love these 2 bits about reading. thought i'd share...

"...in the flickering light, she watched as he carefully wrote them down. she saw how the curves and lines in combinations made the sounds, and that he was then able to say them back to her.
when he read the word 'hollyhock' aloud with his finger on the word, she saw that it was long, with many lines like tall stems. she turned her eyes away quickly so that she would not learn it, would not be guilty of something clearly forbidden to her. but it made her smile, to see it, to see how the pen formed the shapes and the shapes told a story of a name."

and later...
"though kira had told no one, not even thomas, she had realized recently, to her surprise, that she could read many of the words. watching his finger on the page one day, she had noticed that 'goldenrod' and 'greenwood' began the same way, with a looping downward curve. and they ended the same way too, with a little twiglike upright line. it was like a game, to find the marks that made the sounds. a forbidden game to be sure, but kira found herself puzzling over it often when thomas wasn't watching, and the puzzles had begun to explain themselves to her."

[Jessie Voigts]

beautiful. thanks for sharing!