Literacy Narrative

The Treacherous
Journey of Literacy

[Kevin Berridge]

1. Our journey begins at a very ripe age of 4. 2002
marks the day that I began my journey into
literature. I started out with the level 1 books,
passing many of my peers. Reading was always a
fun activity I could share with my parents

2. By the time I advanced to third grade, I was
reading books meant for fifth graders,
increasing the realism and fantasy. I was drawn
in by the mystery and excitement the words
offered. I was consumed by the waves of black
ink and parchment.

3. As I progressed onto 5th grade, the content I
consumed became much more adult, dealing
with kidnappings, murder, and other adult
content. By reading these stories, I was able to
adjust to the world around me easier, and
understand far more than before.

4. All throughout middle school I indulged in
the very macabre genre of horror, truly forcing
myself to grow up. I terrified myself, and
experienced a feeling a new, electrifying
feeling: pure fear. To this day, my middle
school readings has influenced the way I create
my own stories.

5. The first couple of years in high-school can
be difficult for anyone, especially in an English
class. Each book is selected for you, and the
majority of them forced their readers to hate
literature. Ethan Frome and The Scarlet Letter
were two books that drove my passion off
course, almost ruining my whole journey.

6. AP Lang was a breath of fresh air that was able to revive
my passion for literature. Although our class followed the
strict the guidelines set by the AP board, but we also
ventured into other forms of literature. We acted out scenes
from Hamlet, and read Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the
Cuckoo’s Nest. After reading those books, I was ready to
embark on my own, creative writing journey.

7. My senior year marks the greatest
accomplishment in my whole writing career. I took
Creative Writing, and Advanced Creative Writing,
and our final assignment of the year was to create
our own piece of work. I chose to write a short
horror story. After weeks and weeks, I finally
finished with a 28 page story, that I created on my
own. The feeling of accomplishment was
unfathomable, and the whole process taught me the
joy that literature can create.

An Excerpt from my
original short story
The Legacy of an Idea



To be continued…