When I was still learning how to read, he would tell me the stories about these awesome books that HE read (fantasy/sci-fi stuff) as encouragement. I believe he read the Hobbit to me in kindergarten or the first grade (can't remember), usually a chapter or two before bed). I read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings for the first time by myself in the second grade, and I've been hooked ever since.

Another funny anecdote: A few years after that in the summer after fourth grade, I even taught my own brother, who was going to start kindergarten the next year, how to read. I remember it completely amazing my mother.