My Second Childhood

I was cleaning out our basement yesterday -- seriously purging -- and fussing over our bookshelves. I mentioned something to Mia about getting rid of some books, and she said something like, "Yeah Mom, you always say things like 'Oh, I remember this one. I can't get rid of that.'" Implying that I'm a sentimental old fool. Which I am. Sometimes.

Without a doubt, my favorite time of the day is bedtime. Not because the kids are out of my hair, but because of the time we read together before they fade off. It's also the time of the day when all work is unconditionally put aside for a good book. That doesn't happen often (enough) for me.

Our current routine is that I read to Max first and tuck him in, then the older two and I head off to whatever fantasy we're living in pages. With Max, I have the chance to relive stories and picture books that have become family favorites over the years:

How I Became a Pirate
Muncha Muncha Muncha
There's a Cow in the Cabbage Patch
Ferdinand
The Carrot Seed
The Mitten and most other Jan Brett stories
We're Going on a Bear Hunt
Felicia Numeroff's circular tales
My Many Colored Days
The Magic Tree House series
Sophie's Masterpiece
Roxaboxen

Max has also added a few to the list himself:

Anything written by Mo Willems -- the Pigeon series, Leonardo the Terrible Monster, Knuffle Bunny
Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies
The Mercy Watson series

For the older two, top picks include the following:

The Peter and the Starcatchers series (at the top of both kids' lists)
Dragon Rider
The Tale of Despereaux
The Miraculous Journal of Edward Tulane*
The Charlie Bone series (We're in the middle of Book 6 now)
Trumpet of the Swan
The City of Ember, The People of Sparks, and The Diamond of Darkhold series

The list of books we still need to read is pretty long, so I hope they don't mind reading with me when they're eighteen. We haven't tackled Harry Potter yet; mostly because I've already read them all on my own, and Mia thinks she's not interested. I'm determined to bring her around to Hogwarts, Dumbledore, the Sorting Hat, and J.K. Rowling's seven-volume brilliance however.

So yes, Mia's right. I can't give bring myself to give away any of our books (and my second childhood) yet. Wonder how long it will be before I blog about finally letting go of them...

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*When we were reading Edward Tulane, we came to a rather sad part of the story, and I started to cry. "Just take it slow mom. Calm down. It'll be OK," the kids told me. Who's the parent here???

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