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I have always loved to read. Well mostly, I think that I actually disliked it when my mom first started teaching me. But, I remember very clearly the day that I learned to love it. I was reading to my mom and struggling to sound out the words. It was a story about a boy going to visit his uncle on a ranch and his uncle gave him a horse to ride. The story was broken up into sections and when I had finished reading the part that Mom wanted me to read, I so badly wanted to know the rest of the story. So I read the rest on my own and I was hooked.

I read everything I could get my hands on and would retreat into my own little world as soon as I had a book. I read novels, newspapers, medical books, encyclopedias, even the dictionary on occasion. I used to walk through bush on my parents land reading a book and I had favorite nooks in trees or on rocks where I would curl up to read.

Now that I have a family and am “all grown up” I don’t have nearly as much time to read my own books, but I still read. And I still can hardly pull myself away from a book until it is done. I live the stories as if I am one of the characters and while I read, I feel and see what is happening.

Because I love reading, I couldn’t wait to read to my kids. I am not sure if I read to Aneliese in the hospital but definitely shortly after we arrived home. While I didn’t end up reading to the girls as tiny babies quite as much as I had planned, it was still pretty regular. We now read anywhere from 10-15 books a day (some times more). Aneliese especially can’t get enough. Because of this I am constantly on the watch for new books that they will enjoy. Of course we read the same ones over and over but I like getting suggestions from other parents, looking up book lists, and browsing the library. There is so much great literature out there. And there is some really crummy stuff too, even for small children.

Over the past few months especially, we have found some books that we all enjoy so much that seem to be relatively unknown and so I have a been writing a blog post about it that is now too long for one post….so call this an ongoing reading and literacy segment of my blog. My plan is (if I can organize myself enough) to give some lists of authors and books that we like as well as few tips that I have picked up. Call this my therapy during the midst of packing and moving. To start; a couple of books that really say so much more, so much better than I could here. Honey for a Child’s Heart by Gladys Hunt and The Read-Aloud Handbook: Sixth Edition by Jim Trelease. My reasoning for not just sharing those titles and stopping at that is because both are quite long and detailed, with lots of the whys and hows of reading as well as lists of books (they do miss many that I really like though) so there is quite a lot to get through. And finally some reading pictures that I love!

"Alright Boys and Girls, can you all see?"

Reading with baby

As the poster in our library bathroom says: Anywhere is a good place to read!

I think my girls are learning to love reading!