Reading

Arguably, this is second to listening for gathering information.  It is first for teleporting your mind to another place and time.  I love reading.  I have loved it since I was a little girl.  Give me a good story, fact or fiction, and I am in.  On any given day, my purse/bag contains several pounds of books with the hope that, for a moment, I will find myself with time to dive in.  It is here that an eBook would probably serve me well.  Yet, I do not. Carrying books duplicates as weight lifting and a gentle tug to steal away.  I have a love for paper and curling up with a book in my hand is nostalgic and unparalleled.  I find it difficult to replicate that with technology.

Read a Book.  Change your Life

I have hosted a book club in years past.  Reading creative works never grows old.  I slowly made my way from fiction to historical fiction.  I love it all.  Over the past several years, I have read more nonfiction than ever before and there have been many fascinating books that have challenged my perspective.  Whatever you want to learn about, someone has written something about it.  I am usually able to piece together the information I need.  You may be saying to your self- what about the internet?  There is no doubt that the internet is a very valuable resource and I use it for many things including gathering information.  Still, I default to books.  I look forward to sharing some of my favorites in future posts.  

Baby library

When I was pregnant with my first child I began gathering books to create a library. I started with memorable books of my childhood.  I reminisced and browsed used book store shelves.  Top of the list is the Caldecott Award winning Why to Mosquitos Buzz in People’s Ears by Verna Aarderra.  Through my adult lens, I think that I was drawn to the complexities of plot and the illustrations.  Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss is a close second.  I found it in Spanish and I adore it, too.  I love anything by Dr. Seuss.  I will stop there because I can go on and on. 

Lifelong Learning

It is of paramount importance that I foster an environment in which my girls could grow to love reading.  Reading and lifelong learning are truly important to me.  I have intentionally created reading nooks all over the house.  I remember finding all sorts of great places to read in the library when I was young.  Even now, I model reading which I believe carries more weight than anything else.  Well, now when my children think I am still cool, anyways.

Public Library or Bust

My children have since outgrown our home library.  I can't keep up without spending a small fortune.  They have a ravenous appetite for books.  We make trips to the library at least once weekly to stock up. This fits perfectly into my budget.

At my children’s school, they recently performed a short play about “Get Lost in a Book” and, since then, we use this term frequently.  When travelling by car whether 10 minutes or an hour, they tend to dive into a book and “get lost.”  I can’t lie, it complicates drop off in the morning.  In the short drive to school, the girls have settled into a part of a story that makes it difficult to pry the books out of their little hands.  Complaints of books marks and “I’m almost done” create obstacles to getting out of the car.  I am thankful for this problem, yet anything that further complicates the morning is a bit of a sore spot.  Insert smiling emoji with sweat dripping off the brow. 

How do you feel about books?  Favorites?