My Love for Reading Started with Textbooks… and Nanay

Last night, Lena tagged me on outthereadingslump’s (Jili’s) BookStagram post as she celebrates 2k followers with a book giveaway. Congrats, lods! (Follow her for book recos!)

The post asked,

what’s 𝒕𝒉𝒆 book that made you fall in love with reading?

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A post shared by 𝒋𝒊𝒍𝒊 ˚☽ (@outthereadingslump)

It took me the next day to reply (so I missed the deadline, but I just really wanna share this story) because I was thinking about which specific book it was. I told both of them last night over their activated-charcoal frozen yogurt that it might be Tuesdays with Morrie (because my high school English teacher lent it to me), but I realized I’ve been reading books before that era. Or maybe it was Francine Pascal’s Fearless because Kara (my cousin) let me have its book 1 one summer, but I’ve also been reading stuff prior to that season. Then I was reminded of my picture books, which, if my memory serves me right, it was my parents who bought them, and my favorite was the one called Planets. I had two others of the same book, but they were Mammals and Dinosaurs (hence I knew Pterodactyl at the age of four, including Triceratops and Stegosaurus aside from Pluto and the rest of the gang with Orion’s belt, the big dipper, and the asteroid belt).

I replied earlier today upon realizing that I started to like reading because of… textbooks. Surprise. Not Harry Potter (which I don’t read). Not the whole Maze Runner series nor any Neil Gaiman or Rick Riordan’s works (which I also don’t read except for Stardust which was a Bibliolater Book Club pick). Also, not Precious Hearts Romances. They were my textbooks and activity books and the constant afternoons that Nanay spent teaching me how to read.

She was holding on to those books published by Phoenix Publishing House and asking me to read the words Phoenix and exhibit. I also don’t know why Nanay wanted too many Xs on my readings. Again, if my memory serves me right, these books were from her brother’s girlfriend back then (now my aunt). Of course, I learned to read first with the classic yellow Ang Abakada book you used to see in Philippine marketplaces back then. We also had those afternoon sessions.

Then from these textbooks, I started reading Salaguinto magazines, still a frequent ration from Tita Bianca. I even compiled them as Tatay instructed! God. I used to love science. But I realized in school that science ain’t just about the solar system and knowing multiple trivia you can blurt out in random conversations with your classmates (who may find you weird for doing that).

Then I also had sticker story books about Pinocchio and Snow White, where I had to place the stickers on the pages so the whole picture was complete! Then we had Pilipino Funny Komiks, which I really can’t remember where it came from. Might also be from Nanay, who randomly bought it from one stall. Then I had a couple of K-zone magazines — some copies I bought, others, Tatay and Granny did.

Now that I am writing this, I suddenly remember there was one night when Nanay went home with a couple of books from one of her customers who lent me their kids’ books, even if I wasn’t asking. I don’t even know who the customer was, or maybe it was one of my godmothers?

That was also the time I discovered Psicom’s True Philippine Ghost Stories (Gianna Maniego’s). I started collecting them, buying one copy each Christmas from my aguinaldos (I can’t remember clearly anymore if one of the books that Nanay bought home had the TPGS because another memory came in that I read its Book 1 when I was in grade 5 or 6 from my classmate). Then Nanay bought me TPGS Book 2 as a reward for doing well in school. Sadly, all of my TPGS copies were taken by Ondoy. My high school classmate borrowed all of them, and Ondoy happened. That’s on top of the story about losing Nanay’s gift because I let someone borrow it, and they lost it. But they replaced it with a somewhat new copy (somewhat new because someone else was already reading it before it was given to me. LOL).

Recalling all these made me laugh. I got fond of reading because of textbooks? Who am I? Einstein?! And when we say textbooks, that’s connected to school. This also made me realize how much I love school.

Because school showed me the things I love: I love writing, reading, and stories. And honestly? I think school is the only thing I am good at. Acing tests and things like that.

How pedantic and intellectual all these are.