Development of my Literacy

I think of the books I read when I was growing up as a way to pass time when there was nothing else to do. But that aside, these books were memorable nonetheless. I remember sitting in the corner of my cousin's room at my grandmother's house in So. Ozone Park, Queens just reading piles of Dr. Seuss and books of children's nursery rhymes as a toddler. My parents didn't have time to read books to me before I went to sleep, but my mom always took the time to teach me new words from flashcards every morning before I went to school.
I remember my art teacher reading Eric Carle's books such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar. In my kindergarten class, I always loved reading new adventures of Frog And Toad Are Friends. Around winter break, an illustrated version of The Nutcracker was my favorite simply because it was a story of a girl's beloved Christmas present turning into a prince and being whisked away to live happily ever after in a magical holiday-themed alternate universe that resembled a 'Candy land' knockoff, and what 5 year old girl didn't want that to happen? Then I read The Velveteen Rabbit cried, and read it again, and again, watched the animated short about it, and read it again. I was 5 years old and I had read my first depressing work of literature.
In 3rd grade, I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and I liked it, but didn't care enough to read into the rest of the series. Then I read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes and loved it (Nothing like a story of the tragic aftermath of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to cause a 10 year old girl to die from Leukemia to brighten your day *sarcasm*)
Middle School was a defining time for my literacy because I had fallen in love with Horror novels. I had delved into the world of Edgar Allan Poe, Lovecraft, and Anne Rice.

-Rice's Violin was a far cry from her famous Vampire Chronicles, but that's why I was so interested in it. It was different than what she was known for writing about and instead of a Vampire, it was a wandering ghost stuck in limbo with an enchanted Strativarius who was the former student of Beethoven and an preys on the emotions of a vunerable young woman.

- H.P. Lovecraft is one of my favorite authors because of his stories which are a form of frieghtening all their own. They're suspenseful, original, chilling, and addictive to any avid sci-fi or horror fan. Lovecraft is known as one of the most influential writers of sci-fi, horror and all around weird fiction of the 20th century. One of the most infamous creatures of horror in (The Cathulu) was concieved from the mind of Lovecraft, along with much of H.R.Giger's artwork and the adaptation of the 1985 cult horror film, Re-Animator. If I could meet one dead author, Lovecraft would be my first choice.

- And who hasn't read at least ONE piece by Edgar Allan Poe? he is known as one of the most prominent mystery/detective writers of the 19th century, yet sadly he never got the chance to witness how his work influenced so many readers/writers after him. Annablle Lee is one of my favorite poems: it's dark, passionate, and (in a weird way) romantic. Nothing says 'eternal love' like necrophelia. I loved The Tell-Tale Heart because of the internal monologue of the narrator shows a 1st person POV of growing paranoia and insanity... and an old man's dead body under the floorboards.