The next generation...

Reading has always been a very important part of my life. I remember going to the library as a little girl (libraries always had such a distinct smell! part history, part mystery) and picking out the same favorites over and over.


I read (of course) all the Betsy books by Carolyn Haywood. I read the Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, Babysitters Club, Saddle Club, and The Elizabeth Gail series by Hilda Stahl. I don't know how many times I devoured From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and A Wrinkle In Time. Or Little Women and The Secret Garden.


Books were friends. Don't get me wrong, I had friends of the human variety too, but there was something special about reading the same classic volume over and over, wondering who had read it before me and what they were doing now. Wondering how many homes and backpacks and park benches that novel had seen and if the author had any idea how famous they would be while writing it. Books made me think.


And now I think about my daughter and hope and pray she loves to read as much as her Mama! I want her to have the same adventures with all the classics and make some new favorites along the way. The picture at the beginning of the blog is a book by Mo Willems, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite children's authors of this generation. His books are just hilarious and fun for both baby and mom. Audrey loves the pictures, we've read Dont Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus twice already. I highly recommend his work! Here's a link....

So what will Audrey's generation love? What books exist today that will become the classics of tomorrow? Who will be their Mr. Darcy? What famous quotes will they memorize in school? Will the classics live on? Will Audrey recognize the words "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" and "Call me Ishmael" and "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife". What characters will steal the hearts of our children?

Well, I know Hoops & Yoyo will.....




Will Audrey love Snoopy like I do? Or wil Dora the Explorer and Veggie Tales edge out the famous beagle? Will she giggle at Bugs Bunny and all the classic Warner Brothers cartoons like her parents did, or be more fond of the Back to the Barnyard characters and Blues Clues?

I wanted to read so badly as a child that my mom tells me I used to cry because I couldn't. Now that's dedication! lol I don't want Audrey to feel that way, of course, but I do hope she has an eagerness and drive to read and write and be creative.


But hey, if she turns out to be anti-bookworm, that's fine too. She'll be exactly what God created her to be, and nothing less.


Just know at the end of the day, it won't be because I didn't try. She'll wake up from naps and think "hey...why are there all these Snoopy stuffed animals and books in my crib?" hehehe.


(Hey, moms have some license, don't we?) =)