Summer Reading

I have the best memories of The Summer Reading Club, from when I was a little girl. It was a thrill to to write down my minutes, see my progress and turn in my log sheet. Every time my sister and I turned in a certain number of minutes we would get a prize, something that only a nostalgic memory can turn into the best prize ever: a pencil, a book mark, or a coupon for free a small free french fries at McDonald's. Those were the days.

We spent our summers reading all about the Brown's finding a bear at Paddington Station in Paddington Bear, I sat wide eyed at the idea of "gnashing of teeth" in the Wild Things and Cesi's first Posada Party in 9 Days till Christmas. As I got older I became absorbed in the adventures and real life problems of Ramona and Beezus, the romance of long ago in the Little Women and the mystery and heartache of Anne Frank's diary.

It helps that my mother loves books. Not only was she a librarian but as I found out in my later years of life, she is a very good writer. Her love for words was contagious to my sister and I, and we grew up in the libraries amongst the musty smell and tall rows and rows of books. There was something so enchanting about the volumes of old books at the downtown library. And something magical about being allowed to go to the "back" of the library were mom worked reserved for only the staff, where we played with due date cards and stamps and saw promotional posters of celebrities encouraging reading before they were hung in the public area. And always stacks and stacks of books.

Mom use to take us to an old bookstore downtown, usually just to browse, as we got the majority of our material at the library. This bookstore was 2, maybe even 3 levels high, with the first floor being a larger open shop type area, and up the old narrow staircase to the other levels, rooms and rooms, like an old apartment building and every room was full of bookshelves and volumes and volumes of books. It was a really neat place. Old chipped paint, and creaky wood floors and I remember that feeling you had as you walked through the aisles that people put there personal words on paper for the world to see. And that meant something so deep to me, I couldn't get over it.

So as you can see my love for books and reading and writing is deep rooted. We grew up reading, being read to and were taught the marvel of a good story very early on.

The kids and I signed up for the Summer Reading Challenge at the library yesterday (Zoe is an avid reader, Sid could take it or leave it- which is probably pretty typical for a 12 year old boy). Aaron took them to the library with their library cards and got us time log cards, crisp and empty, and checked out books. Now the prizes are chances to win things like an MP3 Player, or a netbook or a Kindle. That's a far cry from my bookmark! But its great incentive to get the kids to read for 30 minutes every day over the summer expanding there imagination and keeping there minds fresh.

Zoe is reading a book in the series of Vet Volunteer books, which is what she wants to be. Sid is reading a book called Bull Rider which I don't believe is what he wants to be. And I am reading a book called In the Woods which is an amazingly written mystery set in Dublin.

I will let you know what we think of these books, as book reviews should be a part of our scheduled summer activities :)

Happy reading- if you don't have a book you are reading this summer, go to your local library and get one- join your summer reading club!! Who doesn't like a free Kindle or a bookmark :) Or at the very least, a magical adventure.