Elaina M.

Bassett
191 Main Street West
Banner Elk, NC 28604

COVER LETTER

P.O. Box 3153

(828) 773-9846
eb0185118@lmc.edu

To whom it may concern,

Within this paper I will discuss how I being the literate individual I am today. I will add life
experiences within it to make it more inviting to the reader. My weak points will be my introduction
and conclusion because I feel weak in my opening and closing statements.

Elaina Bassett
[Email address]

Elaina Bassett
Ms. Weaver
Rhetoric I
10 September, 2014
A Literate Life
Everyone has that story of how they became who they are in the literal sense. Mine starts
as a little wide-eyed girl listening to her mother read her bedtime stories. Some people have
phenomenal stories about how they taught themselves to read and write on their own using any
of the limited sources they were able to get their hand on. This is my story of me being the
literate individual I am today.
As a young child my favorite part of the day was my bedtime story that my mother would
read to us. When she read I was able to put myself in the story and feel as though I was
witnessing what was happening with my eyes rather than my ears. Since then I was in love with
reading, it was a little escape from reality; a way to forget my own life and explore my
imagination. Reading intrigued me all throughout my school and social life, when my friends
would all be playing tag I would be sitting under a tree with my nose in the second book of the
day. I was always perfectly content keeping to myself and losing myself in the words of any
book I was able to put my hands on. In my English classes I was always hated because the
teachers would love me because I was such an avid reader and always at the top of my AR list.
Im not entirely sure I can say I am the same way today. As I grew in my grades and took more
advanced English classes it became not so much as reading and becoming part of the book but
more so reading and analyzing what the theme and hidden context the author based the book
upon. When this started happening I slowly started losing interest in the books I was now having

to be forced to read. My imagination wasnt allowed to be free as much in these readings and I
would have to focus more on what was being said instead of what was happening in the book I
was reading. My mom continued to encourage me to read in my free time saying, Every time
you read a book you learn something you may have never of known. Though this may not have
been entirely true but I continued to read and involve myself in not only leisure books but also
the horrific novels the teachers would give me for the sake of my mother. Slowly I learned how
to actively engage myself in books that I may not have wanted to read by putting myself in the
authors shoes. This not only made it easier to read but also helped me understand some writing
techniques.
My interest in reading as a child made me want to start writing my own books. This of
course was a far-fetched dream for an eight year old. My favorite books were the Animal Ark
books, each of them were a childs chapter book of a vets daughter finding animals and helping
them. I remember as a child I went on my mothers type writer at her office and writing Misty
at the Edge; this was my version of the Animal Ark book. It was about a horse that was rescued
from an ocean cliff. This was the first thing I had ever wrote that I actually enjoyed writing
because I was able to put my imagination into my writing (not to mention it made me feel even
better when my mom laminated a copy for her to keep). As school began and I had to start
writing daily journals, something I was not fond of because I felt that I had to write it and I was
unable to write papers if I was unwilling, even if it was something as simple as a journal. This
soon turned into essays with writing prompts, very few that I actually enjoyed writing because
they were about things I did not feel passionate about. I was slowly giving up on writing much
like I had started to do with reading until my junior year English teacher put everything into
perspective for me. She made me realize how important writing and communicating was in life

and how it was an asset to learn to read and write rather than something I was being forced to do
while I was in school. She made me appreciate writing and how much authors put into their
work, almost as if their writings were more of an art as oppose to something I was being forced
to read while also making it more interesting for me. I took this new outlook on writing with me
as I went into the SAT. By the time I was expected to take SAT my writing had improved
greatly thanks to my high school teachers, and when I got my results back I was very surprised.
Thanks to my phenomenal teachers that taught me everything I knew about writing I was able to
score a college level paper on my SAT which was amazing.
My teachers and my mother were my most influential literary sponsors in my life.
Without them I would not be where I am today in not only my reading and writing but also my
communication skills. Thanks to the help of my literary sponsors throughout my school, and
home life, I have been able to excel in my school, social and work life. Now I am successfully in
college and working towards a four year degree. Without being literate I would not be able to
have done as well as I did in school or be where I am today. Next time you see your literary
sponsors be sure to thank them for everything they have done for you even though you may not
have realized the influence they have had on you because without them you would not be where
you are today.