My friend Janet is a wealth of good books, among other things. Having 5, noooo 6 (as of Wed.!) children, her house is a veritable library of carefully chosen books for children (and adults!). Spanning pre-school to adult level classics of every breadth and width, she's got you covered. It's been really fun to squeal with glee together when we discover how many of our "favorite" books from our early book-worm lives are mutual...we are suckers for Anne of Green Gables, all Louisa May Alcott, The Secret Garden, all the Little House books...you're seeing the pattern?
She recently lent me a book that had never crossed my path before, one of her favorites from her young teen (and even now) years. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase was written in 1962, and is the first of what became known as the Wolves Chronicles. Her description of it had me drooling...think the gothic drama of Jane Eyre, meets The Secret Garden. As she put it, "it's got everything a girls book should have, know what I mean?" I did!
We borrowed a large stack of books for Briana, who's reading like a fiend, and she immediately dug in. I brought The Wolves home with me, added it to my "to read" pile, and went about my reading business...three books away from even getting to it yet. Five days later, Briana has read 3 of her 5 borrowed novels, and I'm ready to read the much anticipated Wolves. I've got a large mug of tea, it's pouring rain...and the day was made for THIS book. I go to my trusty book stack, and... it's not there. Did I leave it in the kitchen somewhere? No...in my library space in the front of the house? No...
"Briana, have you seen the book Janet lent me anywhere? I can't remember what I did with it."
And my 7 year old daughter says in a very off-hand manner,
"Oh sure, I'm reading it right now. You can have it when I'm finished, or I can just tell you all about it now if you don't want to wait."
I can't believe that she budged in my book line and swiped my book! I hope it's the first of many, because it's pretty much the fulfillment of a life-long dream of mine.
Does it get any better than this?! I mean, really...she handed the book to me today and assured me that I'm going to love it, and she can't wait to talk about it...but doesn't want to ruin the surprise by talking about it NOW, before I've read it. OH MY.
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1 comment:
Brigid: What a great story. Alli and I started sharing books when she was this age and we are still doing it.
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