I have a dangerous obsession with books. C.S.Lewis once said that a person’s most frivolous outgoing expense every month should be his books…….I’m finding that very true in my little small town where NOTHING I ever want to check out is at the local library. Is George McDonald really that obscure? Shouldn’t every reputable library have Louisa May Alcott’s Eight Cousins and more than one copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin? They have every last book in the Goosebumps series. Too bad I’m not into prepubescent slimy monster stories. So Amazon and I are good friends. This is one of my most recent purchases….a book about how to lead children in discussions about books. It’s fascinating and should be on the shelves of every educator who plans to teach children the love of reading.
My obsession with books……and a book giveaway
What children read is important. The theory, still in vogue, that says that it doesn’t matter what your child reads as long as he or she reads something is just plain wrong. If anyone tries to convince you otherwise, don’t believe it. This notion springs from the assumption that kids need success–any success–to bolster their self-esteem, and if they have to struggle a little it might leave them feeling bad about themselves. Nothing could be more wrong-headed or insulting to children. Kids’ self-esteem comes from the same source as adults’ self-esteem: taking on something that seems hard at first and then doing better at it than you ever thought possible. Kids are hip; they know when they’re being dumbed down, and no child develops genuine self-esteem from being praised for something he or she didn’t work at.
As a little help for the giveaway here’s the list of my latest Amazon order…. mostly for the kids
The Phantom Tollbooth
Babe: The Gallant Pig (Babe)
Atlantis: The Legend of a Lost City
Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters
The Lutheran Book Of Prayer
The Railway Children (Nesbit)
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
The Orchard Book of Roman Myths
Lost Horizon
Eight Cousins
A Wrinkle in Time
Now what I want to know from you is: What are you planning to read in 2009? Do you have a list? I want to know so I can maybe add it to the ever growing list of books I want to snuggle in with this winter. And because I love you all so much I’m giving away a copy of the Lutheran prayer book to the person who leaves me a comment suggesting a book that piques my interest that I either haven’t read or have been wanting to read again. I often post prayers from the Lutheran Prayer book and it is a wonderful resource for a christian of any denomination. You could tell me about a great childrens’ book too….I’m always on the prowl. To give you all a fair chance at picking my book, my kids don’t read Goosebumps and I don’t ever read anything by Patricia Cornwell. Now…..Ready, set, tell me what to read.
To further assist you, here’s what I’ve read so far this year: Mere Christianity, The Great Divorce, Reflections on the Psalms, Reading Between the Lines, The Imitation of Christ, Charlotte Mason’s series on Homeschooling, The Well-Trained Mind, The Well-Educated Mind, The Pilgrims’ Progress, Uncharted, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Madame Bovary, Pride and Predjudice, Heart of Darkness, New Moon, Twilight, Amusing Ourselves to Death, The Book of Concord, Julius Ceasar, Emily Dickenson, History of the World, What’s So Amazing About Grace, The Defense Never Rests, A Generous Orthodoxy, The Mind of the Maker and probably 100 letters that Abigail Adams wrote to John and I can’t remember what else.
Addendum: you people are serious readers…..it’s gonna take me a day or two to sift through the titles……or order more Lutheran prayer books.