Tags: Activities for Littles Books Mom of Boys Utilizing the Library
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I have the most wonderful memories of my sister and me snuggled in our parents’ bed while dad read us Berenstain Bear books every night before bed. We had the entire collection, and my dad must have read each book a million and a half times. Thinking about it now, I’m not sure if it was the stories or the family story time that I loved more, but either way, I look back on those books with very fond memories.
Interestingly enough, we were talking about those books the other day, and my dad confessed he’d always hated them because the dad (Papa Bear) always came off as a complete idiot. He’s absolutely right…when I went back and read a few books, Papa Bear really was depicted as an idiot! Poor Papa Bear. Regardless, those were my absolute favorite as a child. Much to my father’s relief, my sister and I never realized how foolish poor Papa Bear was, so those books never tainted our view of our own father. We both grew up believing our daddy hung the moon and the stars. No harm done.
As we got older our parents always encouraged us to read on our own. We didn’t have a television in the house when I was young but it was never an issue. Both my Grandmas had TVs and I got to watch plenty of Duck Tales and Chip and Dale after school. I never felt I was missing out on anything by not having one. We were a reading family.
Both the Sweet Valley High and Babysitter’s Club series were HUGE for my sister and me as we got older. Then, when I was about sixteen, J.K. Rowling released Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. My imaginative head practically popped off!
In addition to books we had tons of stories on tape. I remember taking family road trips and listening to Louis L’Amour books or recordings of Amos N’ Andy, and of course we had all of the Adventures in Odyssey episodes. My sister is seven years older than me, and when she was about seventeen she fell in love with murder mysteries. She used to listen to this one story all the time—I don’t even remember the name of it—but it was a murder mystery in which each time they heard the sound of a baby crying, someone would die. I’m sure if I listened to it now, it would be entertaining and maybe even a little cheesy, but to a ten-year-old, it was terrifying. That darn story would scare me every time, but I always wanted to listen to it with her. She’d say, “No, it’s too scary for you.”, and I’d plead with her saying, “I won’t be scared. I PROMISE!” But it never failed. Every time she let me listen to it, I’d end up crawling into bed with her in the middle of the night, scared to death.
There’s just something about diving into the written word and letting yourself get lost in another world. I believe that books allow you to use your imagination in ways that no other medium does. Not having visual aids forces you to dream up the world you’re reading about. Sadly, with children spending more and more time in front of the television these days, I fear that we’ll lose some of those imaginative abilities over time.
That’s why I’ve made it a point to instill a love for the written word in my kids. We started reading to Liev when he was just one-month old. We looked for books with the biggest, brightest art work we could find and over time bedtime story time has become our favorite part of the day. Liev is old enough now to pick his own books for bedtime story time, and it’s wonderful to see how excited he gets to choose his books.
Liev also reads on his own during the day. Of course, he’s not actually reading (except for the books he knows from memory, like Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you See) but he’ll sit there for a good forty-five minutes sometimes just going through and examining the pictures. I choose to believe that this developing love for the written word is enhancing his imagination, and I see the evidence of that throughout the day as he plays with his trains or cars and has them converse with one another.
Studies show that children who have stories read to them regularly from a young age also learn faster. They are quicker to speak, read, and write. But honestly, there’s just no better benefit than those thirty minutes we get each night snuggled up as a family for story time. We’re making cherished memories. Not only for Liev and Silas, but for Adrian and me as well.
So, what are our favorite books? Well, when Liev was first born we loved the Eric Carle books. There are very few words, but beautiful, bright pictures. We started with the “What Do You See” and “What Do You Hear” series and eventually added more to his collection. My personal favorite is Eric Carle’s “Walter the Baker”. It’s a clever spin on the invention of the pretzel.
We also have a substantial collection of Anna Dewdney Llama Llama books because we’re huge fans. The holiday books are always my favorites. Although, we read the Halloween book year-round.
As Liev got older he fell in LOVE with cars and trucks…all things “vehicle”. When we were living in California, my dad would bring a new car in his suit pocket to church every Sunday and Liev would go straight for that pocket before service even started. A while back, my Aunt Katherine sent a box of books and inside was “Little Blue Truck, by Alice Schertle and, oh my word, we read that book so many times the binding started coming apart. You know you’ve found a treasure book when you must replace it after only one year.
Now that Liev is a little older, and his attention span is increasing during story time, we’re starting to do books with more words. He has tons of board books and while those are good for when he reads alone, I was going through them too quickly at story time. We recently took a trip to the library to check out a few “wordier” books. I came across an author by the name of William Joyce, and brought home his book entitled “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore”. It was wonderful! Such a magical little book, and I love the magical books. I say why not embrace moments of magic and let their little imaginations soar before they grow up and have to face the sometimes harsh realities that are part of life. But that’s just my opinion.
Since we’re on the subject of going to the library, story time at the library is another excellent opportunity to take advantage of. It’s free and you usually end up going each week with the same group of people, which is a great “friend making” opportunity for mom and baby. Library story time is good for many reasons: Here’s a few: 1. You get out of the house 2. Your little ones are able to socialize with their peers, and 3. Come on, it’s story time! Most libraries post their story time schedule online, but, if not, just pop in and ask someone for the schedule.
We also live near a Barnes and Noble and they also offer story times. This works well for us, because while the library story time is on Tuesday mornings, Barnes and Noble offers one every Saturday at 10:00am, which means Adrian can come along (and they have a café with coffee and muffins for mom and dad).
No matter which method you use, I strongly encourage you to implement some sort of story time into your child’s schedule. And let me know which stories your little ones are currently obsessed with. I’m always in the market for new books.
I had a mother who read to me
Sagas of pirates who scouted the sea,
Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth,
“Blackbirds” stowed in the hold beneath.
I had a Mother who read me lays
Of ancient and gallant and golden days;
Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe,
Which every boy has the right to know.
I had a Mother who read me tales
Of Gelert the hound of the hills of Wales,
True to his trust till his tragic death,
Faithfulness blent with his final breath.
I had a Mother who read me the things
That wholesome life to the boy heart brings —
Stories that stir with an upward touch,
Oh, that each mother of boys were such!
You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be —
I had a mother who read to me.
- Strickland Gillilan
