92岁的贝蒂·派克容光焕发，美丽动人，宛如仙女一般。 
教母和迷人的花园。拜访她就像掉进了爱丽丝的兔子洞。在她位于萨拉托加的家周围，有一条真正的火车轨道在行驶。这里有爬满常春藤的墙壁、蜿蜒曲折的小路、树屋，甚至还有一座长发公主的塔楼，树下还有一个露天剧场，配有罗密欧与朱丽叶式的阳台。成百上千的孩子曾在这里阳光斑驳的小溪里玩耍，赤脚踩在泥土上，感受着泥土的芬芳，沉浸在这个充满创造力、美丽和奇妙的世界里。这就是贝蒂·佩克赠予几代孩子的世界。
这位优秀的老师现在又有了一个新的项目，她对此感到无比兴奋。以下是她对这个项目的描述，而这个项目的起点是一个简单却意义深远的问题……
我想知道你是怎么学会阅读的。
学会阅读是我们人生中最重要的事情，而且（对大多数人来说）发生在童年时期。我的丈夫威利斯·佩克就是通过“小熊维尼学习法”学会阅读的。以下是他对这段奇妙经历的描述：
小熊维尼的阅读学习法
小时候，父母经常给我和弟弟读书。我最喜欢的是A.A.米尔恩写的《小熊维尼》和《小熊维尼的家》。虽然我并没有刻意去背故事，但反复听下来，我发现自己能背出开头几段。有一天，我一边看着书一边背诵，突然发现自己竟然能认出一些之前没背下来的词。那一刻，我意识到自己真的在阅读了！这就是为什么我称之为“小熊维尼式阅读法”。
一年级时，我人生中最重要的事情就是学会阅读；它帮助我成为了现在的我。我在我的书《幼儿园教育——释放孩子的创造潜能》（霍桑出版社）中对此进行了详细描述。
奶奶给我讲过很多童话故事和童谣。能记住这些古老智慧的孩子真是幸运。而我，后来也成了弟弟妹妹们的讲故事的人。
我至今仍记得我学会阅读的那一天。我也和约翰·斯坦贝克一样认为，“这或许是人类所能做的最伟大的事情，而且必须在孩童时期就学会。” 我还记得一年级时，我把那本平装书带回家读给妈妈听的情景。我学会阅读了！那种能够给妈妈读书的兴奋之情，至今仍历历在目。
在我的记忆里，我们一起坐在离前门不远的地方。我兴高采烈地给她读完了整本书。读完后，她对我说：“现在倒着读。”她不相信我已经学会了阅读！我比之前更加高兴地把整本书倒着读了一遍。就在那一刻，我感觉自己真正找到了自我。我超越了自己之前的认知。现在，我会用“超越”这个词来形容那一刻，因为现在我知道了母亲无法知道的事情。只有我，也只有我，知道了这个美妙的秘密：我学会了阅读。我不需要庆祝；学会阅读本身就是一件值得庆祝的事情。
当我的孙女莎拉学会阅读时，我问能否把她给妹妹梅丽娜读书的照片挂在我们村图书馆的儿童阅览室里，以庆祝她学会阅读。这张照片被挂在那里，庆祝人生中最重要的一步——恰好发生在童年时期——学会阅读。
洛杉矶我家附近的那家图书馆滋养了我对文学的热爱。妈妈会给我读书。我们常常读到最后一刻，直到书的截止日期，然后我就会穿着溜冰鞋，独自一人飞奔到图书馆。但真正引领我走进世界文学殿堂的，是我在贝尔帕西学校七年级的老师拉弗恩·佩兰夫人。我们每周都要背诵一首诗。她会给我们读沃尔特·斯科特爵士的作品，还有风格迥异的《汤姆叔叔的小屋》——我们读这本书时，每一个字都格外认真。我相信，她给我们读的都是她自己喜欢的书，因为我记得她对这些书的热情。每一个故事，都远不止文字本身：它涵盖了历史、文化、自然、哲学、宗教和心理学的整个领域。正是因为这份传承，我现在每天都会阅读好几本书，而且会反复阅读，这些书我都收藏在我的书架上。
阅读是人生中最重要的事情之一，它发生在童年时期。你有没有想过，要具备阅读能力，需要掌握哪些技能？这项令人兴奋的技能是上天赐予的礼物。
我们如何运用这份天赋，决定了我们成为怎样的人。作为一名教师，我深感荣幸能够帮助幼儿园家长为孩子们打下坚实的基础，培养他们成为热爱阅读、对社会有贡献的公民。我希望，当今天的孩子学会阅读时，能够围绕这一时刻建立起庆祝活动和仪式。我们花了这么长时间才意识到，这是一个值得珍视的奇妙时刻。
你是怎么学会阅读的？我很想听听你的故事。
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My best friend taught me how to read. He was three years older than me. Every day after school in his first year he would come over and show me what he'd learned at school that day using the book Green Eggs and Ham. He died two years ago at age 58, I will miss him for the rest of my life.
I remember walking in to kindergarten and straight for the bookshelf. My beautiful new teacher (who was really 80 years old) said to my mother "oh I see we have a reader on our hands, how wonderful is that"? From that day forward, I have always considered myself just that "a reader" and have always lived up to the expectation of my kindergarten teacher. Thank you Mrs. Quaker!!
Satya Narain Goel
In India Ramayan written by Tulsidas is the most read book. For centuries, generations after generations, the women learned to read to enable them to read the story of Ram and Sita in Ramayan. Apart from religious and spritual side of the epic, which Ramayan is, it has made a tremendous contribution to the reading habits of women in India.
Satya Narain Goel, Jodhpur, Rajasthan. India
I cannot remember a time that I wasn't being read to by my parents. My mother had a gift for reading with accents and regional dialects which enthralled me and my siblings. I had numerous children's stories memorized and then I "read" those to my siblings (I have no recollection of the moment when the memorization became truly reading on my own). My father found children's books read over and over and over quite tedious, but he noticed that children love to sit with you and be read to, no matter what is being read (the special attention given the child is the most important part). So, he read what he liked aloud to me and thus, I heard the Wall Street Journal each evening and learned incredible language skills that have served me all my life! My vocabulary skills were enhanced all while I was having a wonderful time. Two of the ladies who babysat my siblings and me would bring stacks of books and read and read until they were hoarse and on the verge of losing their voices! We all three gathered on the couch and were enthralled all evening long. My, we were so blessed! I still love books and reading and stopping wherever there is a bookstore; bookstores even smell wonderful!
[Hide Full Comment]In Eastern India there is a annual festival called Saraswati Puja which revolves around the deity of learning, Saraswati. When a child is about 3 or 4 years old he or she sits down with other children of the same age and they are shown how to write the first alphabet in the Bengali script. Each child has her/ his own miniature handheld blackboard and chalk and it is a occasion of celebration that the child is progressing away from babyhood and getting ready for formal education. The child feels part of a group and seeing the adults reaction they are also enthusiastic about starting to read the alphabet.
Hi Betty,
My mother read to us from early on. She and I would sit in a big chair together, and she would read to me, annunciating each word clearly. So, I learned to read early on. she took delight in showing me off to the family at christmas time, when I recited "twas the night before christmas," from memory. I believe her strong focus on enunciation helped me learn how to read and spell well.
I was 4 years old. My mother was pregnant with my first little brother and she would take a hot bath every morning. I would sit on the bathroom floor with the newspaper spread out on the floor in front of me with my right hand on her tummy to feel the baby move. She would teach me about roots, prefixes and suffixes, how most words were Greek or Latin in origin. I would stumble through the article she chose and she taught me how to find meaning of words I didn't know through context. She was very strict and a very difficult woman to please, but she raised a true reader. I never read children's books. She never talked "baby talk". She felt that if you learn that way, then you would have to un-learn that to learn "real" language. I was an extremely gifted child and she challenged me, constantly. I don't ever remember anyone reading aloud to me, I read aloud to them.
Amazes me that people can remember when they learned to read. The earliest memory I know of is in second grade for me. I am sure I learned to read before then. Sorry.
Beautiful!
Books were my friends. My father was career Army so we moved every year until I was in high school. I learned to read early. My mother still talks about the day when I was in first grade and the teachers asked me to read a story to the third graders. In high school I spent my summers reading from books picked out from the Book mobile. I loved the Book mobile. I can still visualize the driver who would patiently help me find my books and the coolness of the air inside on those hot days. I read all of the available Agatha Christie novels that summer. Today I am the organizer of a neighborhood book club. We have 13 members. We all have been together for 10 years. We lost one member to cancer and we honor her memory by donating books to a needy cause. Reading has shaped my life.
I was four years old. My Grandmother Quigney taught me to read. Every day she would take a break from work cuddle up in her recliner by the living room window and read. Often she would read aloud to me from Reader's Digest or The Education of Hyman Kaplan or Cheaper by the Dozen. And she would read children's picture books, nursery rhymes and of course Winnie the Pooh. I would follow along trying to decipher the swirls on the page. And then one day it just clicked and I read a book about a pony who tries to keep up with the horses; how fitting. Thanks to my Grandmother's efforts I read Every book in my elementary school library. In adulthood (after jobs in women's health & cancer research), I was a Children's Librarian. I had the blessing of creating an entire program and helping thousands of children develop an appreciation for books and reading.
Today I am a Cause-Focused Storyteller & Literacy Advocate. I sold my home & possessions in 2005 to create/facilitate a volunteer literacy project in Belize; the initial thrust was book drives & reading activities. Since then I've donated programs for 33,000 children & trained 800 teachers how to use their own cultural stories in school. I've just returned from Ghana where I donated literacy training for librarians at 6 library/community centers. All because my Grandma instilled a Passion for books & taught me to read. Thank you for your Passion & sharing the Love of reading.
[Hide Full Comment]I learned to read in school, very early in the first grade. I loved the individual letters and their sounds, so I was using phonics before anyone had even coined the term. I like music and language seemed the same thing to me. The individual letter-noises could be combined to make familiar and unfamiliar words, so when I struck an unfamiliar word I knew that had happened, and wanted to learn what those sound patterns were for. It was all very easy and effortless. I was ready in the first grade, and those were the years before child care and kindergarten. We had a lot of kids in the first and second grades (in one room with one teacher) so I had lots of time to myself to play with the sound combinations and see where they went. I am glad I predated the hubbub of day care and kindergarten. We went to school because we were grown up enough to be allowed to, and it was a huge thrill!