>This is my Only the Good post for the week. Feel free to pop over to This Eclectic Life for other Only the Good postings or check my archives.
Early this week Sassymonkey wrote on BlogHer about how books impacted & made a difference in her life. Sassymonkey asked other bloggers to share how books have influenced, impacted, & touched their lives, giving us a chance to make a difference in a child’s life. Bookrenter, a company that rents textbooks to college students, is donating up to a 1000 books to First Book, a non profit organization that provides free books to underprivileged children. This is a good thing, a wonderful thing!
I love reading, always have. I love books; there is just something about the feel of a book in my hands that makes me giddy. I don’t know what age I started reading but books were always available at my house. My parents are avid readers, exposing my sister & me to a wide variety of literature at an early age. Mama (maternal grandmother) always gave us a new book for Christmas & our birthdays. Visits to the local library were always a highlight to my week. I would rather read than do anything else! Frequently I got in trouble at school for reading “fun” books instead of my textbook I was supposed to be reading.
I read just about anything I could get my hands on as a child. I loved series & often read older books I found at my grandparents’ houses. Nurse Cherry Ames, Nancy Drew, Tarzan, Swallow & Amazons (British books), & many other classics were all my friends. I read Louis L’Amour westerns plus all of Judy Blume. I read Christian fiction, George MacDonald (a precursor to CS Lewis) as well as biographies. Just about every single genre I read, both in juvenile & adult fiction. My tastes have changed over the years but I still love to read. I always have a stack of books by the bed that I am currently reading from. I carry a book with me everywhere I go so I always have something to read. I really, really want a Nook. (sorry sidetracked there for a minute)
I pray that Charlie will turn into a voracious reader someday too. I want him to get the same thrills from reading that I do; that sense of being totally drawn into the author’s world so much that you become a part of the story. I want Charlie to enjoy reading for it’s own sake; not because he has to. Hubby & I read to Charlie nightly. I took Charlie to the library for Mother Goose & Toddler Time. We make weekly trips to the library together to look for new books & DVDs. Charlie has his own library card & loves going to the library! He asks to go the the library. He loves talking to the “li-berry lady” about books he is interested in.
Books are given as gifts for practically every holiday, birthday & no reason at all. I buy books from Scholastic for Charlie. I loved ordering from them as a child. Charlie frequently takes a book to bed to look at before going to sleep.
It saddens me to realize that there are thousands of kids today who do not own their own book; that have never been to a library or been introduced to the wonders & power of reading. It scares me as well!
The good thing is I can make a difference in 1 child’s life today. I will comment & blog about books so that a little boy or girl can have their very own book! Thank you to Bookrenter & BlogHer for giving me this chance. Thank you First Book for donating books to children & after school programs. Thank you for giving a child a chance.
Elizabeth
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