Madison Gregory
College Composition & Research
Pre/Post-Writing Essay
December 11, 2015
Literary Autobiography
As Marcel Proust once said, “There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book.” This quote speaks to me because the books I read have read as a child have positively impacted me. I have chosen five books that have influenced me as I became older and more mature and they are: Toes- Tor Seidler, Goosebumps- R.L. Stine, My Side of the Mountain- Jean Craighead George, the Harry Potter Series- J.K. Rowling, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Stephen Chbosky.
In a book called Toes by Tor Seidler, a young cat named Toes after its unusually large number of toes on each paw, gets ridiculed by its siblings and eventually runs away. When the upset kitten runs away he makes friends with a lonely musician and they create a great bond of selfless friendship. After completing this book I felt inspired to be the best friend I could be to all of my friends at the time. Finishing this book I decided that I wanted to become an avid reader and read more stories with happy endings.
The Goosebumps series, although they typically did not have a positive ending, help me mature. These books all have different characters and settings, but all contain the similar situation of children being forced into a scary situation. I read most of the books in this series in elementary school and loved the plot twists. These books taught me that is okay to be curious, but not to believe everything I read.
The story My Side of the Mountain. is about a young boy who runs away from his busy city home to live in the Catskill Mountains on his own. The main character learns to live on his own and make friends with the animals. After reading this novel by Jean Craighead George I forced my family on multiple camping trips and spent a lot of time pretending to fend for ourselves in the wild. I tried to relate my life back to the main character and realized that my life is a lot better than I thought. After I read this novel I became a more positive person and started to look at the good things in life.
The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling are about a boy and his friends overcoming many difficult challenges, but of course using magic. These books showed life lessons about the importance of friendship and the difference between good and evil. After reading all seven novels, I tried to value my friendships more and put more thought into the I believed were moral.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a book telling the life of a very troubled teenage boy through letters to a stranger. As the main character goes through many temptations and personal issues, he matures and learns to become a social individual. Throughout this book there are many examples of the main character standing up for the things he values. Reading this book written by Stephen Chbosky inspired me to not spend time worrying about what others thought and to save time for myself.
Marcel Proust’s famous quote relates to me because of the love I have for spending time in a good book. To me, each of those days were truly fulfilling to me as a grew to be a better person. Each of the five books I chose, even though they all very different in many aspect, all have impacted me sometime throughout my life.
College Composition & Research
Pre/Post-Writing Essay
December 11, 2015
Literary Autobiography
As Marcel Proust once said, “There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book.” This quote speaks to me because the books I read have read as a child have positively impacted me. I have chosen five books that have influenced me as I became older and more mature and they are: Toes- Tor Seidler, Goosebumps- R.L. Stine, My Side of the Mountain- Jean Craighead George, the Harry Potter Series- J.K. Rowling, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Stephen Chbosky.
In a book called Toes by Tor Seidler, a young cat named Toes after its unusually large number of toes on each paw, gets ridiculed by its siblings and eventually runs away. When the upset kitten runs away he makes friends with a lonely musician and they create a great bond of selfless friendship. After completing this book I felt inspired to be the best friend I could be to all of my friends at the time. Finishing this book I decided that I wanted to become an avid reader and read more stories with happy endings.
The Goosebumps series, although they typically did not have a positive ending, help me mature. These books all have different characters and settings, but all contain the similar situation of children being forced into a scary situation. I read most of the books in this series in elementary school and loved the plot twists. These books taught me that is okay to be curious, but not to believe everything I read.
The story My Side of the Mountain. is about a young boy who runs away from his busy city home to live in the Catskill Mountains on his own. The main character learns to live on his own and make friends with the animals. After reading this novel by Jean Craighead George I forced my family on multiple camping trips and spent a lot of time pretending to fend for ourselves in the wild. I tried to relate my life back to the main character and realized that my life is a lot better than I thought. After I read this novel I became a more positive person and started to look at the good things in life.
The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling are about a boy and his friends overcoming many difficult challenges, but of course using magic. These books showed life lessons about the importance of friendship and the difference between good and evil. After reading all seven novels, I tried to value my friendships more and put more thought into the I believed were moral.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a book telling the life of a very troubled teenage boy through letters to a stranger. As the main character goes through many temptations and personal issues, he matures and learns to become a social individual. Throughout this book there are many examples of the main character standing up for the things he values. Reading this book written by Stephen Chbosky inspired me to not spend time worrying about what others thought and to save time for myself.
Marcel Proust’s famous quote relates to me because of the love I have for spending time in a good book. To me, each of those days were truly fulfilling to me as a grew to be a better person. Each of the five books I chose, even though they all very different in many aspect, all have impacted me sometime throughout my life.