Photo A Day, Day 15: I'm Reading This

I’ve always been an avid reader. My mom told me that I learned to read well before kindergarten, and I don’t remember a time in my life when I wasn’t in the middle of some book or another (and often more than one at a time). I loved getting to know the characters in a book, and I was sad whenever I got to the end of a book, because there were no more adventures to be had with them. And then I discovered the joys of book SERIES. I didn’t have to abandon my friends at the end of the book, because there was another one to start in on right afterwards! Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Brown, the Pevensie children, Trixie Belden, Anne Shirley, and Laura Ingalls kept having adventure after adventure, and I was right by their sides, eagerly awaiting each new installment.

So when my son began to read on his own recently, I began to think about the kind of books we could read together over the coming months and years. I looked back through the beloved books of my own childhood; I recalled the delightful new children’s books I discovered later in life through my mom, a children’s librarian; and I browsed through bookstores looking for interesting stories to share.

During all this research, I naturally pored over my own eclectic book collection, both my legion of hard copies and my growing Kindle collection. I leafed fondly through my boxed set of C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia (my third set, having loved the first two to the point of disintegration), I pulled out my dog-eared copy of The Phantom Tollbooth, I set aside my copy of The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes for Easter reading. But the books I kept returning to, the ones I kept wondering impatiently when my son would be ready to read, were my Harry Potter collection.

I pulled one of the books off the shelf; it happened to be Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I meant to just read a few lines, yet once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down. The beauty of re-reading old favorites, of course, is that you can jump in at any point and know exactly what’s happened so far. So it didn’t matter that the particular book I chose was in the middle of the series; I have read and loved these books so well that I might as well have read the preceding book the day before. I was merely rejoining old friends.

Not surprisingly, as soon as I finished re-reading that book, I couldn’t help but grab the next book in the series.

It is a sign of a well-written book that reading it is just as enjoyable when you already know what is about to happen as it is when the ending is a complete mystery. I know the fates of every character in the book; yet I eagerly turn each page, excited to let their story unfold before me yet again. It is like taking a journey on a familiar and well-used road; I know where I’m going and what I’ll see on the way, but I still like to watch the road going past, wondering if I might spy some little detail I’ve missed all the other times I’ve passed by. I never know what new delight I might discover when I’m reading this.

Kids' Books: Then and Now

My mom began her career as a first-grade teacher and ended it as a children’s librarian, so it goes without saying that my entire life has been filled with wonderful classic and contemporary children’s books. I love it when my children fall in love with my childhood favorites, and I love it when they introduce me to new books that become as beloved to them as my old favorites were to me. And I find that there are a lot of interesting parallels between the books that I loved back in the day and the ones my kids love now.

The Truck Books

“Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel” was already a classic when I was a child. It shows that machines like construction trucks are more than just heartless automatons. I found myself cheering for Mary Anne the steam shovel as much as for Mike Mulligan, maybe even a little more.

One of my son’s favorites is “Are You My Mother,” which features a steam shovel that looks very similar to Mary Anne, and which (along with its invisible driver), carefully returns a fallen baby bird to its nest and its mother. You can’t help but have a soft spot in your heart for steam shovels after reading this book. And you’ll never hear the word “Snort!” the same way again.

Another, more contemporary book that my son loves and that brings personalities to trucks is “Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site.” It shows each different truck finishing its work for the day and tiredly tucking itself into bed. The picture of a huge crane truck gently cradling a teddy bear in its “arms” is guaranteed to soften even the hardest of hearts.

Repeated Refrains

Another favorite childhood book of mine was “The Story about Ping.” At the end of every day, Ping’s owner would call him back to the boat by chanting, “La la la LEEEIII.” I love the way my mother sang the lilting chant, and I loved chiming in with her on that refrain.

In a similar vein, my son loves “Chicka Chicka ABC” with its repeated refrains of, “…at the top of the coconut tree,” and “Chicka chicka BOOM BOOM! Will there be enough room?” And he loves to imitate the rhythm of my chanting. It’s like learning reading and music at the same time!

Richard Scarry

I had a giant treasury of Richard Scarry stories, and I loved many of them, but my favorite was always Pierre Bear. I loved how sweet Pierre was with his wife and his little boy. I loved that even though he was a bear, he was always gentle and mannerly.

My son, of course, prefers the Richard Scarry stories about cars and trucks, especially “Things That Go!” Louie’s Gooey Glue truck never fails to bring gales of laughter, as does Roger Rhino with his ill-fitting glasses.

The Hat Book

I loved pretty much every Dr. Seuss book ever written, but “The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins” sticks out in my mind as one of my favorites. Poor Bartholomew’s puzzled expression still makes me snort with laughter.

Both of my kids get their giggles from a completely different book about hats: “Blue Hat, Green Hat”. A silly turkey who tries wearing his shoes on his head and putting his coat on backwards is the main source of giggles in this delightful book with its refrain of, “Oops!”

Dr. Seuss

 

And of course, no children’s book collection would be complete without a set of Dr. Seuss books. My son can recite pretty much all of “Dr. Seuss’s ABC” plus quite a few passages from “Green Eggs and Ham” and “I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!” As could I, when I was his age.

I look forward to years from now when I can pass along my favorites and my kids’ favorites to my grandchildren. And maybe they’ll have some new classics to share with me! I just hope we’ll be turning the pages together and not just poking a touch screen. Because there’s nothing in the world that feels quite as wonderful as turning the magical pages of a beloved book.

June 28 Photo: On the Shelf

I have stuff on shelves all over my house. There are shelves of clothes, there are shelves of toys, there are shelves of vases, there are shelves of food, there are shelves of Tupperware and tchotchkes and DVDs and CDs and sheet music. But my favorites, by far, are the shelves of books. And my favorite shelves of books are the shelves of kids’ books.

My mom was a children’s librarian and my sister was an early childhood education major, so not only do I know all the great children’s literature from my own childhood, I’m pretty up to date on all the good stuff through the mid-1990s. And because my wonderful cousin Carol passed along her kids’ favorite books, I’ve even got some good stuff from after 2000.

This shelf is only the books we keep in the playroom – it doesn’t include any of the marvelous classics we keep in the bedrooms for naptime and bedtime stories. We’ve got it all: Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Go Dog Go, Are You My Mother, all things Seuss, Make Way for Ducklings, The Story of Ping, Tikki Tikki Tembo, Where the Wild Things Are, the complete Richard Scarry Collection, Goodnight Moon, Chick Chicka ABC, There’s No Such Thing as a Dragon, Animalia, I Spy, Polar Express, half a dozen books involving trucks and/or trains, and Does God Know How to Tie Shoes? We have books about being a big brother, getting a big boy bed, and learning to use the potty. We have books with no words, a few words, and lots of words. We have books with a few pictures, a lot of pictures, and only pictures. We have some that we read nearly every night and some that I can’t wait until the kids are ready for them. We have books that make sounds and books that have windows that open and books that have different textures to touch.

Books are a window to the world around us. They introduce children to animals they have never seen, places they have never been, and adventures they have never heard of. Books teach them little words and big words and little ideas and big ideas. Books help them think and grow and learn and imagine.

It’s a shelf full of books, but it’s also a window to the whole entire universe – and maybe a couple more universes, just for good measure!