READING IS FUNDAMENTAL

In my opinion, one of the most important and fun things in life is reading. I remember, as a kid, saving up my money to order books from school and also constantly checking out books from the library. Once, my elementary school librarian cut me off for checking out too many books and for checking out the same book about Louis Pasteur too many times. I was undeterred, and clearly Louis made his mark on me. One of my favorite book series was called, "Bruno and Boots," which described the adventures of 2 kids in a Canadian boarding school (Think Harry Potter with high schoolers and without the wizardry). I went on to read some of the "great books" during high school and college, and I started a book club during residency to meet women who not only could read well but who were also well-read (This is how I met Kathleen, but we will save that for another post.), but my early reading was every bit as formative.

Last fall, one of our friends who is a librarian mentioned that she really liked a children's book author named Mo Willems. I am always game for trying a new kids' author as so many of them are dull (Eric Carle and Sandra Boynton excepted). We decided to check out a few of his books, and I must say I, as a discriminating reader, found them both humorous and educational. More importantly, Nicholas loves them- particularly the "Pigeon" series. One of my oldest friends from growing up in Austin gave Nicholas a copy of Mo's book "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" for Christmas last year, and it remains one of his favorites. He has memorized most of the words from this series and can "read" them to me, which is quite hilarious. As for Cate, we have already introduced her to one of Mo's most endearing characters Knuffle Bunny (pictured above). She sits in rapt attention when I read bedtime stories to Nicholas, and I think she, too, will come to love reading.

A bumper sticker I saw today in bibliophilic Portland summed things up best, "I'd rather be behind a book." I could not agree more, and, on that note, it is time for me to get back to "Cutting for Stone," which I hope to review in this forum at a later date.