Literacy from a Grandmother’s Perspective

Hey everyone,

I decided to interview my grandma for the literary narrative project. Here is my favorite question/answer I got out of it…

Q: Try to think of your earliest memories of reading and writing. What do you remember of reading and writing before you began school? Who helped you with it and what was it like?

A: “My dad helped me. He would read me stories and take me bowling and taught me how to keep score.That has to do with reading. My mom made me cook with her and stuff to, which taught me some reading.”

I found the answer to this question intriguing because in class and our readings we often ask the question “what is literacy?” and “what falls under the definition of literacy?” My grandma said numbers and recipes from cookbooks were a form of literacy. This led me to the conclusion that any symbol that requires deciphering of some sort seems to be considered literacy.