If you were to walk in our house on any given day, you would notice that there are books in every single room. Daniel has a book on General MacArthur in the bathroom; Kate has baskets of picture books in the living room, nursery, and our sleeping room; and I have books of all genres in all of these rooms (except the bathroom) including the kitchen. Books spill over our bookshelves, tables, and chairs. They are marked with pens, highlighters, and makeshift bookmarks, awaiting their reader to return and pick up where he/she left off. Needless to say, we are a reading family.
At this moment, I am reading six different books, one of which is Mem Fox's Reading Magic. Fox, an Australian children's book author and educator, preaches the importance of reading aloud to your children from birth as the best literacy tool. She also stresses that when children peruse books, turning pages, looking at the pictures, and telling the stories to themselves, they are reading, regardless of whether or not they know what the words on the page mean. So, Kate, who is going through her Googlie Farm book right now, is reading! It's a stretch, I know, but Fox says not to belittle this important step in literacy development.
I have been reading to Kate since before she was born, reading aloud Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea in their entirety, and now we read everyday although nothing quite so long. Kate's favorite books are The Gingerbread Man, Five Silly Monkeys, and That's Not My Dolly, and we read these same three stories at least twice a day despite having tons of others to choose from.
My mom read to me as a small child, instilling in me a love of reading that has always been a part of who I am. I hope that I can instill this same passion for the written word in my own children and that one day they will pass on this same love of reading to their children.
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