I love to read. It's in my DNA. I have fond memories of my mother curled up on the couch, reading. My father loved reading Dr. Seuss to us, he absolutely loved the nonsense words Dr. Seuss used and when I read my dad's stories, I see that influence. My mom and grandma exchanged bags full of books and magazines every time we visited one another. My granddad read every Louis L'moure novel ever published.
I passed that passion for reading to my children. I am the mother of 4 grown children and I read to them from the day they were born. They are all voracious readers and visitors to our home often comment on our love of reading. My top two favorite visitor moments: my cousin Shad walked into our living room and looked at the 5 of us spread out on our sectional sofa, reading. He watched us for a moment, glanced at the television, back at us, and blurted out, "What are you doing?!? The tv is RIGHT THERE!" My other favorite moment was when our friend, Justin, entered our home and witnessed the exact same scene. He stood there in disbelief, then quipped, "You know, you could die from this much reading."
To earn enough money to pay for my book habit, I teach elementary school, which, of course, necessitates the purchase of even more books. One of my greatest challenges and joys each school year is having a student enter my class as a reluctant reader and leave 9 months later with an insatiable appetite for books.
I have several young nieces and nephews who benefit from my addiction in the form of Aunt Carrie's Book of the Month Club (gotta love Amazon Prime ;).
This blog is an outgrowth of my desire to share my love of books. As a parent and a teacher, I am often asked for book recommendations - by age, gender, grade level, genre, reading level, reading resistance level - you name it, I've been asked to create a list of books for a child with that characteristic. Giving recommendations to my family, friends, and students, and receiving their recommendations, is pure pleasure for me.
I hope you'll visit often to see what treasures I've come across.
