Books

I like to read but I LOVE books. I don't know
when or how I grew to love books so much. From
long ago I remember playing with books with
Laura and my next-door-cousins. We'd throw all the books off the shelf into a pile between us and then take turns picking them out one by one. When we were done we'd have our own hand-selected pile to look at. I always wanted to pick Clip-Clop before anyone else got it. I remember reading the rolled up pages of Little House on the Prairie, the first "grown-up" book I read. Then I moved on to my all time favorite book, Johnny Appleseed. As you can see from the picture, it survived the years but was well used. I used it when I played school, and it still contains a slip of paper that was my "answer key" to the questions from the book I had made for my pretend students. I remember realizing one day after school that I could not find it. Luckily, I had dropped it when I got of the bus. I found it out in the yard.

In The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch he talks about how his family relied on the dictionary to answer all their questions. Well, my family had books like that too...the 1974 World Book Encyclopedias. Although I never knew the price of these books (and the Childcraft books that came with them) I gathered that these books were an "investment". And in my family, they were a WONDERFUL investment. They answered every question anyone in my family had. I can't tell you how many reports they helped me write. Mommy, Daddy, Chuck, Laura and I referenced them for everything! When I was bored I would just pick a letter and thumb through the pages. I especially liked picking "C" and looking at pictures of different species of cats. I would, also, look through the Childcraft Arts & Crafts volume for ideas of things to make.

So, I have such a VALUE of books. I've been known to check a book out of the library, read it, and love it so much I go out and buy a copy just to HAVE. I always knew I wanted a library in my house (with red carpet) to store my treasures. I can't ever imagine reading from a kindle. I just want to have the book to hold, read, mark in, reference, and simply OWN. Each one is like a treasure all my own.