I had an epiphany during my trip to Vermont last month: there's a reason why I'm so smart, I mean, why I like to read - I think I was read to A LOT as a child. The same people who read to me back then spent a lot of time reading to my daughter during snowy days in New England. Some mornings, it lasted over an hour, book after book. What a gift.
Gold Medal Ties to my Mom and Joanie, who never ever said no. And Joan gets an extra special Dorothy Canfield Fisher for having the most amazing private children's library in a house.
My hands-down favorite: the resurrected Blueberry Pie Elf. Because no one can see an elf, no one can feel and elf, and no one can hear an elf.
Often times the pink afghan knit by my OWN grandmother was necessary.
Sometimes those silly Olympics in Vancouver distracted us...
Dr. Seuss was not to be outdone by some silly Elf.
Sometimes the ladies coordinated their outfits for the occasion, like reading a compilation of Little Golden Books here in this photo.
Often the whole crowd got involved:
Sometimes the story made the listeners a little tad sad.....
Very often we were snuggled in bed. SILVER MEDAL to Martha for pulling out some incredibly worn and loved books from her own children's childhood, held together with brittle masking tape, many of which I had never heard of. Different era, different books...
Bronze medal to Uncle Wes for taking one for the team and reading a funny nonsense rhyming book.
Another Bronze to Uncle Cedric for coming on Valentine's Day in a red sweater and reading stories where every character had different voices that captivated the imagination.
Runner Up Bronzes to everyone who read to Léna, who began to improve her vocabulary and comprehension skills:
Goodnight Moon....
Billy Goat Gruff...
Two and a half weeks later, every single day, Estelle speaks of something that she heard in a story in Vermont. Both Thomas and I are stunned at her ability to recollect, and the way she continues to make connections between characters, plot lines, rhymes etc from all those tales and something she runs across in the moment.Thank you to all those readers out there. Estelle has a T-shirt that her cousin Wayne gave her: "Love Me, Read a Book to Me." No doubt Estelle is loved!
