Beautiful Weather

Chambers of Commerce all over Florida must be in high spirits this winter. We've had weeks of daytime temperatures in the upper 70's along the coast. We're loving it because we haven't had to run our heat but twice all winter (and our AC twice--mostly to pull out the humidity).

School was out today so we took a welcome trip over to Lakeland to visit my folks.  Since it's still too cold for the pool, we took a drive down to Lake Morton to visit the beautiful Lakeland Public Library then stopped for a picnic across from the Methodist Church.  The wind was blowing so hard that the seagulls hovered like kites over the lakeshore. The brisk wind didn't stop us from visiting Lakeland's famous swans.

While we were sitting in the children's section of the library I read the boys On Beyond Zebra, and I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew. I'd forgotten what a great book that is.  I think it's time to give my troubles some trouble too.

I added a new "frugal joy" over at the Frugal Family Friend.  Yesterday's was "coffee"; today is "public libraries".

Books I Like

I have no memory of not being able to read.  According to my family I started in early and never quit.  We didn't have a tremendous number of books in the house, but my mom and I made frequent trips to the library, usually on Monday nights when Dad worked late and we went out for what we now call a "girls night out."

The best part of our library trips was the freedom to browse the children's section all by myself.  Now I'm a mom and I just realized that my mom was probably enjoying browsing the adult section all by herself.  But I digress...  The worst part was when I didn't check out enough books to make it until the next trip. Dang.

The last big book I read was Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.  It took the better part of my first pregnancy and I frequently discussed the finer points of the book with my unborn son. Now I read all the time, but the books usually contain a fast talking pigeon or Jedi Knight.  I miss having the time to absorb an entire novel at a few sittings.  Most of my adult reading falls under the excuse of "book review."

Still there are Books I Like. There's no pattern here and it's by no means a complete list.  But these are books that resonated somehow.  I've either read them multiple times or think about them as the door to which a genre opened.  They're a mixed bunch: Pride and Prejudice,  Fahrenheit 451,  A Christmas Carol, Ender's Game, Time and Again, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, This Present Darkness...

On a shelf of our bookcase sits a collection of children's Books I Like:  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler; Alice in Wonderland;  The Phantom Tollbooth.  They're "newer" books; my childhood copies are long worn away by repeated page turning, so these replaced them in college. Old friends--and I look forward to the day when my kids can meet them too.

Pig Wig and the Pleasure of Reading

My 5-year-old is learning to read.  We're still a long way from War and Peace, but as a parent, teacher, and librarian, I'm thrilled to watch this process unfold. I studied reading methodology in college: learning the language, memorizing books, the "a-ha" moment when the brain decodes a word in an unfamiliar context.  It's much more fascinating in person.


I remember when he'd sit down with a book and "read" it to himself, using the same inflection that I used on each page.  I wish I could have recorded some of these moments, but he would have stopped if he knew I was watching.


Last summer we discovered a series of books by Yukiko Kido and Harriet Ziefert.  He's read Pig Wig and Stop Pop. They're simple--3 sections of word families, 1 word on a page, and short sentences at the end of each section.  Today I found Snow Bow at the downtown library.  It was waiting in his car seat when I picked him up from school.  I love hearing him sound out the letters and puzzle through the complexities of consonant blends.  Each word read is a little victory;  a sentence like "Feet meet on the street," a triumph.


He already knows the pleasure of listening to a good story being read or told.  Someday he'll have the pleasure of getting lost in a really good book.  His journey is just beginning.