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
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be -
I had a mother who read to me.
~Strickland Gillilan
Do you remember the first book that you really made a connection with? Do you remember the person who read you that book? Do you remember where you were sitting? What else do you remember about it?
I remember sitting on the nubby brown polyester couch; my mother in the middle, my brothers on her left, I on her right. It was a warm summer day, the sun shining through the window behind us. It was the narrow window next to the front door, so the sun was slantedly shining across the right side of me. The curtains on the big windows in the room were closed, to help keep the room cool. She was reading Little House In The Big Woods. It was the part about Pa going to town, how far it was, and how long it took him. We asked how far it was (in a way we could comprehend--3 miles doesn't mean much when you're small.) We were amazed at how long it took Pa to get to town and back, when for us it was only a short car ride away.
My mother read to us every day; but that book, that day is what I remember best.
As a mother, I'm curious what my children will remember of their first real connection with a book. Will it be me they remember reading it? Or, will they remember something their dad read to them? Someone else? Was it a book they read themselves? What book will be associated with that memory? What was the day like? Was it night? Where were they sitting? Who else was there?
I wonder if my brothers share the same memory, or if they remember a different book at a different time. It's interesting to me, that story of people's first connections with books. Please, comment and share yours.
My mother never read a book to us, matter of fact, I got in trouble, if I was reading a book. But my older sister was nice enough to read to me, and the story I do remember is the emperors new clothes. I was sitting in my sisters bedroom, which I ususally was not allowed in (maybe that is why I remember it so clearly), leaning against the registers to stay really warm, my favorite thing to do then. I had to laugh so hard, when I heard the story for the fist time. It was so unbelievable to me, that an emperor could walk down the street in his undies and not even notice that he did not wear any clothes. I begged my sister a few mor times to read the story to me, but the story did not make me laugh quite as much as it did the first time.
ReplyDeleteMy parents read to us. A lot of Dr. Suess & then whatever we picked at the library. My most vivid reading moment though, was reading to myself. Lying sick in my bed in my aqua room with the turqouise shag carpeting reading The Triple Hoax. It was one of the first Nancy Drew books I read & I remember being SO excited at the thought that there we so many more to read!
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