A well read boy

Some hobbies or interests you may have reflect or may only of been possible in or possibly after a specific era such as following the "space race" or more recently using various forms of online social media that simply wasn't an option for this boy.

 Reading though not without it's difficulties such as being dyslexic and having a limited vocabulary was however on of mine not least for being portable plus able to paused and resumed at will which in that era advantages over tv and movies.
We were fortunate to have in upper juniors a male teacher with a passion for literature, Mr Rangecroft, who apart from having us read, also read aloud in class to us cos it was and still is the case reading is seen as more a girls thing which as a boy I can tell you isn't something you want to be associated with!
One book we loved to read was  Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner  a German author who wasn't very popular with the Nazi's which was set in pre-war Berlin where being raised by his Mother alone Emil is sent to Berlin to give to his Grandmother her salary but encounters a man, Max Grundles along the way who gives him chocolate that sends him a sleep and when Emil wakes up the man and his money has gone.
The story is his adventure with other sometimes shady children trying to track down the man and bring him before the police.
Another transitional book was Ian Serrillier The Silver Sword. It is the story a boy called Joseph in German occupied Poland who gets into serious trouble at the school after he turns on its back one of numerous pictures of the German Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler that gets him sent to a Prison Camp whe breaks out of.
The story is about his family and other children caught up in the war and brutal Nazi treatment of the Polish people.

I went for part of my childhood to a boarding school where of necessity all your relationships with teachers, care staff and class mates  are very different plus to a very large extent you're living by someones rules wearing a uniform all day with no chance of a change.

While there I read the Jennings series of book based upon the adventures  of two friends at prep boarding school called Jennings and Darbishire which made sense as  was in similar situation and we too had our adventures that seemed incomprehensible to those who were responsible for our welfare on the grounds. 

There remains a very large part of my that would enjoy a return to boarding school and I was fortunate to spend six months in a residential college where I could go back to being the boarding school kid with informal dorm parties and all the little intrigues. 
Although naturally we read sat at a table at school, the best position to read in  is that you are comfortable in allowing yourself to be swept away by the story which for me and countless other boys was and is on the floor with your shorts on the floor legs bent up proper boy style.