Growing Good Readers

I love libraries!

I distinctly remember the first library I went to. I was little, three or four. It was a tiny room with a single desk for the librarian, inside the community center, but it was huge to me. The bookshelves towered over me, seeming to touch the ceiling. Someone, probably my mom or oldest sister showed me the children's section. Instant love!

I remember every library I've visited since,  from my grandfather's den which smelled like leather and always felt chilly, to drinking coffee with my middle school librarian (the first of, sadly, very few men whom I have met in that profession) who saw me nearly everyday for two years and still couldn't believe that that was my favorite place in the entire school (even beating out the orchestra room!).

Victor loves to tell the story of when we were in high school together and I wouldn't let him borrow my library card when he forgot his because, gasp!, he might incur late fees on my card! (And I will admit that even after 13 years of marriage, it is still hard to hand it over, even when we are together!)

Yes, we are a library family! 

We like bookstores also, but somehow putting a price tag on it closes doors instead of opening them.

We have several of our own libraries here at home. But we make regular use of our public libraries wherever we happen to be/live/visit. 

We visit weekly, and while we do often max out our movie limit each visit, we also leave with armfuls of books! A very large portion from non-fiction sections in fact. And every night the kids have an hour to read and/or draw in their beds before lights out. 

They read so much we've had to ban library books from the table and bathroom because the risk of damaging them is too great! 

 Of course we each have our favorite libraries! And this is one of my new favorites! 

Our very own Littlest Library! 

I love having somewhere I can take books that we are finished with, but in great shape and pass them on to other reading families! And getting a few fresh ones in return!

Both Victor and I do a large amount of reading via electronic media. Our phones are definitely our primary source of news, weather, and research. Even casual reading, after all, blogs only come in electronic form! In fact we get the newspaper delivered to our house every day for Grandpa, but neither of us actually read it very often, (though that is in major part because getting any part of it from Grandpa is such an ordeal it's rarely worth it).

But nothing, and I mean nothing, beats curling up under a blanket with a cup of something warm, and breathing in the distinctive smell of a good ole' ink and paper, cardboard covers, glue spine...book. (And then staying there for hours because you just have to read one...more...chapter!)

Happy Reading Friends!