A Whole New World

Growing up, I LOVED to read. I don't know how this hobby started. I'm convinced it's not completely conjured up by parents, but can just happen. Neither of my parents were avid readers and still are not to this day. My youngest brother started reading at age 2 and adores piles of books, but the middle brother, didn't pick up a single one - yet he's a mechanical engineer major, currently helping write calculus books. Go figure.

Do you remember some of these reads?

• Mandie books
• Encyclopedia Brown
• Babysitters Club
• Sweet Valley Twins
• Trixie Beldin
• Dana Sisters

I remember an instance where I was longing for several books in our school's book fair catalog. Someone had recently given me the Anne of Green Gables series. My mom told me I needed to finish the first book before buying anything new. It looked so thick and boring! Such disappointment! I have both a stubborn and determined nature. What did I do? Threw the Anne book away and close to promised I'd never open it again. But my determined nature got the best of me and I picked that book back out of the trash can and finished it by the end of the week. Two things happened: I got to order new reads, and found a new love for Miss Anne Shirley! Ended up not reading those other books for a couple months because of a fictional plot taking place on Prince Edward Island. To this day, I am smitten with the Anne books. I look forward to reading them with my daughters.

I have caught the bug again. It doesn't usually hit until about mid-October, when Fall starts reappearing. I am into books like fleas on fruit (and that's a very real simile right now). Since finishing Lies Women Believe by DeMoss, I have started The Pursuit of God by Tozer. It's the Christian classic that all have read except for me. It has been on my shelf for ages and am just now diving in. So impacting. Kind of like C.S. Lewis, in that I have to pause in between paragraphs to fully grasp the message. I admire writing like that, but more importantly, I am impacted by the content. Just finished chapter two, The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing, and feel that it should have gone on and on. Succinct, yet it often takes years to apply. Doesn't have to take years, I remind myself.

Another current read of mine is a secular novel, How to Eat a Cupcake. It first appears as quick, shallow fiction, and there are a couple spots to skip over here and there. But for the most part, it is about two friends who have a bitter past, coming together again. Meg Donahue gives the characters depth and keeps the reader intrigued. Who doesn't like a book with 'cupcake' in the title?

Here are some books I'm looking forward to...

Our library system is amazing. It has almost every book out there. You are able to put any book or video on hold and have it transferred to the nearest branch. And you can renew the item twice. Unless I need a home school guide, devotional or cook book, or something for months on end, why buy?

This year (like last year), we entered the reading club. Well, it's really hard to record the minutes we read because they are so haphazard. We don't have scheduled reading time in the summer. Maybe during the school season, but there's no reading club then. I have decided we aren't doing the reading club again until the girls are old enough to track their own minutes and read on their own. It's too much hassle and makes it a chore!

My middle girl is in love with the library! She now knows how to be quiet/ the consequence of not doing it. She lights up like a firefly when we arrive! She gets so excited and always gravitates to the Peter Rabbit books first. Then she meanders to the board books. She even likes the ones without pictures, which she "pretend-reads". Love this age.

I am convinced that introducing books to your children opens up a whole new world.