Ode to Childrens Books

Because this blog is (among many things) a place a put things I don't want to lose, I am posting this post that my daughter made yesterday. I don't think I need to say anymore, in fact, words fail me.

A long post with a purpose! And a bit of self promotion! And lots of advocacy for literacy and making books a part of your life. And also lots of appreciation and love for my family, I can't help it. They're a good bunch.

Children's books are so important to me. Personally, they hold some of my favorite memories. From before we could walk and talk, our parents had been reading to us, my brothers and I. Family favorites like Burton and Dudley, Two Bad Ants, White Dynamite and Curly Kidd, My Rotten Red Headed Older Brother, Firemouse, Little Tricker the Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear, Wild Wild Sunflower Child Anna, or any Bill Peet book, to this day fill me with wonderment and entertainment while giving me a sensation of home, comfort, and love. 

When we reached elementary school, part of our morning routine, along with breakfast, chores, packing our lunch bags, and in my case, brushing and braiding my 2.5 foot long hair, was sitting in Mom's lap as she read to us from chapter books. Over the years as we waited for the bus we heard all about Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family as they moved west through America, from their little house in the big woods, to the dugout house in the plains. Then we heard stories from the other side of the wardrobe as we traveled to Narnia and back, then all the way to The Last Battle. From Beverly Clearly classics, the escapades of Ramona Quimby, Ralph S. Mouse, Henry Huggins and Ribsy to loooots of horse stories. You know, Black Beauty, My Friend Flicka, Misty of Chincoteague, etc. 

When my older brother was six, soon to turn seven, I was born, so I had the benefit of hearing stories read from him as I grew up! And then I was eight when our youngest brother was born, so he enjoyed a houseful of accumulated stories and books! There are cassettes of us reading our favorite books we taped, as we anxiously anticipated a new sibling, bursting with excitement to share with them our favorite books! The idea being that the baby would want to hear our voices at all hours of the day, maybe when we're gone at school and couldn't actually hear us, that this tape and these stories would bring comfort. 

Go through our family library of children's books, you'll see inscriptions inside the cover, books from my Dad to my Mom, before they ever even had kids! Books wishing us happy birthday or a merry Christmas from grandparents, aunts and uncles. Books with our handprints drawn inside, nesting in each other. Books with our names scrawled in them as we learned to write. Now looking back, stamping the books with another layer of story to tell.

I remember the first ever real chapter book I bought myself from a Barnes in Noble in second grade (Chasing Redbird). I remember as I advanced as a reader, still wanting to go to the children's section in our elementary school and local library, because, well, I like the illustrations and I wanted to revisit some old favorites! I remember listening to Harry Nilsson's The Point and illustrating it as the story was told and sung on giant rolls of kraft paper with my dad. I remember listening to my little brother retell stories he had been read, cute, backwards, and sleepy. I remember my dad home from the hospital and being worried at six years old, but we snuggled right in and he read me a story to calm me down and return us to normalcy. I remember Jim doing the voices spot on as he re-read aloud his favorite childhood series to Joe. I remember everyone taking their turn at making up bedtime stories for Joe. I remember my grandparents reading me a story they read to mom as a girl. I remember flipping through an animal encyclopedia and each choosing a side to draw in our own sketchbooks with Jim. I remember being in middle school and going downstairs with some other classmates to read to the kindergarteners, where Joe was a student. I remember dad coming home from a meeting at Barnes and Noble and when he came in to say good night he gave me my first Harry Potter book (which was the third one, Prisoner of Azkaban!) just as JK Rowling was taking off when I was in third grade. I remember other kids saying, "Well of course you like reading, your dad is the librarian, you have to read!" Sigh, no kids, I like to read because it's awesome and there are so many stories out there. I like reading because I am so lucky to be a part of this family. Where reading, storytelling, imagination, creation, drawing, thinking, playing and making are all connected and a part of life! Dad being a librarian is just a perk of this life!

Where I'm going with this is reading is awesome. Children's books are wonderful windows, influential and memorable. I have been lucky enough to meet an author who wanted me to illustrate her story, and now that book is done and ready and it's very exciting! I think you should read the story, and look at the illustrations. Support an artist and an author and buy our book:

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/arlosgarden

Read aloud, read quietly, be read to, create a story, draw that story, retell that story. You can take reading with you YOUR ENTIRE LIFE!