AP Lit and Composition
Aliyah began reading and actually enjoying it at a very young age. She was read to by both of her parents until she was around 4, when she was able to read simple books by herself. By grade 4, she was helping her mother read through her Medical Terminology books. Neither of her parents reached a very high level of education, or really had any high regard for literature, but as soon as she was given an inch she took a mile. When she entered middle school, she pushed her mother to take her to the public library once a week, checking out at least 5 books and finishing them all by the time the next Sunday came around. She endured quite a rough life from the end of Elementary school to the end of Highschool. A home life filled with abuse and emotionally immature neglect pushed Aliyah inside herself. Books and poetry and plays were exactly where she found her home. Her house didn't have cable, and so she wasn't even really given the option to spend hours watching TV. She had books. Some books weren't meant for young eyes. Vladimir Nobokov's 'Lolita', a favorite in her older teen years, was first introduced when she was 11. A genuinely disgusting, nearly romanticized composition about pedophilia she sneakily read behind her mother's back. And she found it to be absolutely fascinating. Some books were just plain fun. Graphic novels from Japan were her favorite. The art was beautiful and the story lines were thorough. Even into highschool, she listened to slam poetry for hours. They lit a fire inside her and opened a door for her to release so much pent up anger she had build through the years. Over the course of her Highschool career she's read over a hundred books. Nonfiction, fiction, graphic novels, poetry. The house she lived in was lined in the living room wall to wall with books. She's proud of the fact that she finishes every book she reads. Even if she's not very fond of it. Over the summer of 2017, she read 7 novels, and 23 graphic novels. She loves challenging herself and pushing herself to read the most difficult books she can handle. Her favorite authors are David Levithan and Ernest Hemmingway. Aliyah is a reader who inserts herself. A reader who cries and laughs and bites her nails while turning the page. Looking back at her literary journey, her growth is massive. She fondly remembers reading Shakespeare by herself in middle school and sitting up on her high horse, thinking she was elite (She now knows that this was a very 12 year old thing to think.) And now she is on the path to her theatre degree, reading script after script and she's come to the decision that as a reader, she simply just likes to read.
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