DD 026-30.999 Tony; The Open Door : When writers first learned to read. D.R. Godine in association with the Center for the Book,1989( 028.909 OPE )

In 1989, there was a push by the Library of Congress to make that year the year of the Young Reader. One of the Library's head honcho's decided to collect a series of essays from writers about their experiences first learnig to read.
Many authors are found in this tome: From Dickens to Douglass, to Rand To King- if an author wrote about their first times (reading), it's probably documented here.
I found some reading trends of these writers over the years rather interesting. The most popular book read was John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress . Most authors were discouraged by white males to read (Douglass, Rand, C.S. Lewis, Charles Dickens, and Anne Frank(Actually, during World War II, all Jews were discouraged, not just her).
However, I had a problem with several of the essays. Instead of life story or anecidote: some writers essays were works of fiction. To me, this seemed like false advertising.
The essays in this book are quite charming me and I am inspiered to maybe read a new author or two. But this book was only printed once (hence the lack of an availible image)- and will be had to find. Unless you go to the Library of Congress.