Children's Book Day

Today, in honor of International Children's Book Day, I want to tell you about some of our favorite books. 

First I should tell you that my paternal grandmother was a third grade school teacher.  My father was a reference librarian.  I grew up surrounded by books.  My mom worked nights and evenings as a nurse and it was my dad that I remember reading books to us before bedtime.  We read all the classics: Curious George, Clifford, Frances, etc.  He had voices for everyone.  My dad would change around the stories to see if we would hear the differences.  I learned to read when I was about four, and I think it was mainly because of all that reading as a kid.

Who wouldn't love a book with your very own name in it?

My older brother John would read to us too.  He's nine years older than me, so we grew up somewhat differently, but I know my dad must have read to him the same way as he read to us.  John may or may not have enjoyed babysitting his little brother and sister, but he did like reading to us.  He used to mess up the words and change the story. I remember yelling at him, "NO!! Read right!!!"  And he would laugh and ask, "Read right?  As in right to left?"  And since we didn't know any better, we would agree and John would start reading all the lines backwards from the end to the beginning. 

When I would get in trouble as a kid, my punishment was to take away my books.  I guess that was the thing that made the biggest impact.  Or I would get in trouble for reading under the covers after bedtime and my mom would take my book from me.  The thing is, I always had another book stashed somewhere that I could pull out.  I used to read all the time!

I still enjoy reading.  Shortly after Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone came out, I bought it and asked Ken to read it with me.  We read that book together and then started the next one.  The task became more difficult as the books got longer and our life got more hectic (kids, jobs, etc.) but we still read every single word of those books together.  I loved it!

Being a full-time working mom with three kids doesn't leave a lot of time for reading.  And some nights if I have the time, I don't have the ability to stay awake, but I still enjoy books. I guess it's fitting that I ended up working in a library too.  I am surrounded by children's books. My kids love coming in here and sitting in the corner and just looking at all the books. They have picked up my love of reading and that makes me immensely happy.

It's hard to keep a bookshelf neat when a two year old keeps pulling out books to look at!

Our favorites will, I'm sure, change over the years, but for now Frances loves reading about horses-fiction and non-fiction.  She also loves reading a series called The Secret of Droon.  Henry is in love with SkippyjonJones.  Benjamin will sit forever with search and find books even though he pretty much has all the ones in our house memorized already. 

As a parent, I really enjoy reading the Pigeon series of books from Mo Willems.  I also really get a kick out of reading Robert Munsch.  I made the mistake of buying one of his anthologies and the kids does want to understand that it is a collection of many different books.  They want me to read it cover to cover!

If you love books, you might want to check out this site: Happy Birthday Author.  This dad loves books and he celebrates children's book authors on their birthdays with lots of fun, cool activities.  He has lots of great information about authors and books. 

What about you? Do you like to read? Personally or to your kids?  Who are your favorite authors? What are your favorite book or series?