a good book

why must these people i live with need food?

and drinks of water?

and clean clothes?

and help with things like putting toothpaste on their toothbrush and changing their own diaper?

don't they know that my mind is faraway in england, during world war 2, wondering what on earth will happen to richard? i know, after all, that penelope eventually shares a dreadful ever after with ambrose, but richard is her true love so what on earth happens! i must know! and what do you mean "what's for dinner?" didn't i just make you a piece of toast this morning?

i love to read. and sometimes (often) an especially good book will force me to forsake everything else in my life. i'm not exactly proud of this fact. the degree of disaster my house is in is often very closely correlated to how enjoyable my current book is.

i love a good story.

love. it.

and i do hope my children develop a hunger for reading and learning. because there is so much waiting to be discovered in a good book.

so, this is what my firstborn has been up to lately:
i find her everywhere with her nose buried in the pages. in the backseat, on her bed, in the backyard, at the park.

notice the book:
"prince caspian" by c.s. lewis.

excellent choice, i think.

especially if you can actually read.

which ella can't.

and yet she occupies so much of her time "reading." she skims each page, each line, each word for the ones she recognizes. she's currently on chapter 3.

and she loves it.

and i can only imagine that if she's this enthralled now with a story made up of words such as "the" "and" "you" "is" "to" and the occasional recognizable proper name (she's still waiting for a character named ella), she's going to blown away with all the many worlds that await her in books.

"You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend." ~Paul Sweeney