I don’t know why I asked this question in my Comm Arts class today…maybe because we are back from Christmas break, and I wanted to see where I needed to start again, but I innocently asked, “How many of you got a book for Christmas this year?”  No one raised their hand…hhhmmm…okay…”How many of you asked your parents for a book?”  Not a hand.  I don’t know why I am so astonished, but I am…I’m amazed that kids don’t ask and parents don’t think to give books as gifts!!  Buying books and reading them are so much a part of my life, I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have them! Last year my mom bought Maddy the full Puppy Place series for Christmas…and this year she bought Mads seven new books!!

I grew up in a family that embraced reading of anything!  LOL…I once got in trouble in junior high for bringing an “inappropriate” book to school..thank you Sidney Sheldon!  And I believe I read my first Harlequin in fourth grade.  But my mom’s theory was she didn’t care what my sister and I read as long as we read!  Every summer my mom would take Juliana and me to a used bookstore and let us get ANYTHING we wanted!!  I remember carrying out FOUR trash bags full of books one summer…and after we read those, she’d let us trade for more.

Reading is something I believe my sister and I took for granted growing up.  My mother used to always tell us that reading was a struggle for her as a child (Dyslexia…what is that?)…and she wanted to make sure we never struggled like she did. And I love her for that! Granted, growing up in a time where there was only two or three tv stations and static radio didn’t HURT (haha)…but it really was a matter of my mom making reading important for the family!

If you were to ask me today who the bigger influence was regarding my desire to read–school or home–I would tell you without a doubt…HOME!