“TV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they’ll have with twenty-six. Open your child’s imagination. Open a book.” ~Author uknown
I have always loved to read books. Always.
One of my favorite childhood memories? Entering the library carrying nothing but my library card — and leaving a short while later carrying a leaning tower of books. Lots and lots of books.
I always finished them before the due date. Always.
My husband and I had many goals as parents. One of them was that we wanted our children to love to read. We read to them from the time they were babies and continued into their early teens. Yep, you read that right: We read to our children when they were teens. We started with books like Goodnight Moon and The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear and continued through all the Little House on the Prairie Series (three times) to the Chronicles of Narnia to (today) the Dragons of the Valley.
I’m thrilled that all my children love to read — and a couple of them like to write too.
In Your Words: Did you love reading books as a child? Any favorite books? Do you have a not-to-be-missed book that you’d recommend?
Comments 32
So glad for your great blurb, and so true–may MANY be drawn to your book.
And love the clever quote about children reading–2 letters versus 26. From age 6-12 we lived in a modest subdivision opposite a community hall that contained a library and a church. That changed my life and I thank God.
I do believe books can change our lives — opening our hearts and minds to experiences and thoughts and influencing we would otherwise never “meet.”
Did I love to read as a child? Oh, yeah. Do I still? Double yeah.
On many occasions, I’ve had the same experience as you–going into the library with nothing, returning with a stack of books I could barely carry myself. As a kid, I adored Nancy Drew, the Boxcar Children, and like yourself, the Little House on the Prairie books. I read Gone with the Wind in 5th grade. I devoured the classics.
I’m excited to read The Hunger Games since I’ve been reading so much about that series lately. But there are just so many books on my to-do list! Not sure where to start. 🙂
Lindsay:
I think I was in 5th grade when I read Gone With the Wind too! Loved that book. Of course, editors nowadays would say it had too much narrative! My children devoured the BoxCar Children Books, and one daughter loved Nancy Drew. My first book to read and re-read and re-read was Little Women. And I cried every single time I read it and got to the part Beth died.
I love Little Women too. And yes, I cry every time as well.
Did you ever read the Anne of Green Gables series? Seems we might be kindred spirits. 😉
I do believe we are kindred spirits, Lindsay. I love all things Anne with an “e.”
🙂
Or shall we call her Cordelia? 😛
😉
Love this post. 🙂 I was a voracious reader as a child, and I still read as much as I can. My kiddos love to read too, to the point of getting in trouble in school because they’re reading instead of doing math, or whatever the teacher is doing. 🙂
I loved the Little House books, Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden and Beverly Gray mysteries. I got into less wholesome stuff as a teen, but that’s another story.
Jeanne,
Well, there are other things your boys could be getting in to trouble for … 😉
And yes, we all have to learn to be discerning about what we read. I too got off the track a bit with what I read, which is why I was always on the lookout for good books for my kids.
We read to our daughter when she was a teensy thing. We read aloud as a family when she was older, each of us taking turns. These days she’s a voracious reader. Love it!
I devoured books when I was a child. I have too many favorites to name them all, but the Little House books and Little Women are high on the list.
Keli,
There we go again: On the same wavelength! We both love Little Women!
I devoured books from the moment I discovered I could read them. My favorites were the Little House series and A Little Princess, though I also loved the Misty of Chincoteague series. I was an adult before I discovered Anne of Green Gables and books by Katerine Patterson and Cynthia Voigt. I still occasionally pick those books up and lose myself in them all over again. This last summer I revisited both A Little Princess and These Happy Golden Years. 🙂
I was an adult when I discovered all things L.M. Montgomery and systematically read all of the Anne of Green Gables books and anything else I could find that she’d written. I loved how she tried out some of her characters in short stories and then they showed up in her longer novels.
Thanks for this post, Beth! Some of my best memories revolve around the old “Nancy Drew” series. In the summer months two of my friends and I would lay outside on a blanket and take turns reading. (“Gone with the Wind” was a favorite, too.)
I remember reading out of some thick book to my firstborn when he was days/weeks old. LOL! (I might have waited a bit longer with the next two babies.)
My kids all love to read and have passed that love on to their children. The sweetest thing is now reading to my four grandchildren. I often travel with heavy bags of library books – keeping a list so none are left behind. I hold onto their favorites for so long, they think they belong to Mimi. ; )
Passing the love of reading down through the generations … wonderful gift!
I guess I’m the one to break the trend. Ohhh, I just want to be normal 🙂
I hated reading as a child and all through school. Being forced to read Pride and Prejudice in HS was the pinnacle of torture.
After getting married my mother in law handed me a novel and convinced me to read it. It was Christian fiction titled The Wedding Dress (I think). It took me over a year but I celebrated like crazy that I actually finished a whole book. I read every page! My excitement dwindled instantly when she handed me the sequel. I wasn’t about to commit another year of my life.
It wasn’t until two years ago that I really began to LOVE reading. I consider it a bit of a miraculous thing, because now I read everyday and I can finish a novel in two days if I want to. Now I get to read the classics again – for the first time.
However, having gotten that off my chest I always read to my kids, filled their lives and their rooms with books and have successfully raised three voracious readers. That was an actual goal of mine. I guess I instinctively understood what I was missing from not loving reading. Praise God.
Jodi,
Of all the comments, I appreciate yours the most. (No offense to anyone else.
Not everyone loves to read.
I get that.
I know people like that.
But … you did eventually fall in love with books.
And you still purposed to introduce a love of books to your children.
Love, love, love, this post!
🙂 🙂 🙂
I was a bookworm as a kid, and I’m a bookworm now. 🙂 As a kid, I loved Little House and Narnia, too. Also, Nancy Drew and the Mandie books. I remember the first “grown up” books I read where Janette Oke’s Love Comes Softly series… 🙂
Ah, yes, Janette Oke’s series. She started a new genre with the Love Comes Softly books.
Ugh, were, not where…
Never fear, Melissa, I don’t edit comments — even if my nickname is TEE (The Evil Editor.)
😉
I appreciate it more now than I did then. I think the spark really happened for me in college. I fell in love with reading and writing. However, A Wrinkle in Time also flickered the beginning of something for me as a kid too (and of course the Ramona series).
~ Wendy
Confession: I haven’t read A Wrinkle in Time, although I made sure I got it into my children’s hands!
I loved Charlotte’s Web when I was a child. I still pick it up every now and then.
Charlotte’s Web is a classic for good reason! I try to ensure my children read the book before watching the movie. I always think reading the book is best before watching the movie.
It’s amazing to me to realize I didn’t like to read until I had children of my own. I knew the importance of reading to your children so that’s exactly what I did (and still do). Thus began my love of reading! Since I didn’t read as child (well, not for pleasure) I have found I like so many different kinds of books. But my favorites are the non-fiction books. However, there are a few fiction titles I enjoy, like The Noticer, and The Left Behind series.
My son devoured the Left Behind series, and so I read a few of the books too so I could talk with him about them. The Noticer …hmmm. Not familiar with that. Off to Amazon to look!
I’ve devoured books since I was a small girl. My mother used to pack us into the car every week, and off to the library we’d go. I loved everything about the library — the hush, the soft lighting, the miles and miles of books.
Thanks for stirring up sweet memories, Beth!
The library was–and still is–one of my favorite places.
I am fairly certain I will be the only one to to respond this way.
Here it is… my big, bad, shameful secret. Gasp! I did not like to read at all until college. And then something happened and I just couldn’t get enough. Been a voracious reader ever since!
Not the norm for a writer I know!
No shameful secret. We all have our journeys-to-reading. And now not only are you a reader–you’re a writer!