The influence of motivation on readers' behaviors has received wide attention in literacy scholarship. The importance of readers' motivations for reading becomes critical when considered in relation to readers' engagement with reading activities and their perceptions of themselves a competent. This article presents a qualitative study of pre-service teachers' literacy history stories and reflections on their identities as literate individuals. The stories represented pre-service teachers' perceptions of home and school literacy experiences that either motivated or discouraged them from engaging in literacy activities. Their reflections were an account of how their experiences may have influenced their current self-perceptions and engagement with literacy. The findings provide insight into the ways in which specific literacy practices and conditions surrounding those practices motivated students to engage or discouraged them from engaging in literacy activities across time. This study has implications for how literacy educators think about motivation and its value in supporting learners across time.