When I was a kid I loved books more than anything. No toy, no pet, no sister (kidding!) could even come close to how I felt about story books. My mom, being the good elementary school teacher that she is, set us up a library in the garage/playroom with a kid-sized bookcase and plenty of comfy space to lounge and read. I loved the way books felt in my hands, the way they smelled, and how delicious the words could be.
So, imagine my delight when Grammy showed up to meet Norah for the first time with an entire suitcase full of my childhood books (yes, the woman flew from Texas to California with an entire suicase full of children's books). Some times being a hoarder, I mean, saver is a good thing... She brought my absolute favorites, which included all the Sweet Pickles books, Swimmy, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, and Ferdinand. She also brought Pierre, a dark and funny story by Maurice Sendak (of Where the Wild Things Are fame), about a little boy who has a very bad attitude until he gets eaten by a lion and discovers that apathy is no good because it will get you eaten by lions. It isn't a short book, there are more words than pictures (the age range on the book is 4 to 8), and there is nothing cute or cuddly about it.
As such, it should come as no surprise to anyone that Norah is absolutely obsessed with it. We read it first thing when she wakes up, multiple times before bed, and any time she catches sight of it (I have started putting it on my dresser, out of her immediate line of vision). She thinks it is hilarious. To her credit, I do give the mom, dad, Pierre, and Lion different voices, which I am pleased to report that she appreciates very much.
I absolutely cannot wait until she discovers all the treasures books have in store for her.
*The picture has no relevance to the subject of this post, I just thought it was cute. We are going to Yosemite in a few months and Norah needed snow clothes. No way was I going to buy her new snow clothes, so we got these second hand from a mom in my neighborhood. She loves to wear the boots. Mainly over her pj's in the morning.
4 comments:
May need to get this Pierre book.
And I have been meaning to tell you that we got AM that dinosaur DVD/CD that you have talked about (Laurie Berkner Band). The songs never leave my head. AM wants to listen to it all the time. I may never forgive you. :)
I love that your mom did that for Norah. She's super cool.
I need to have a talk with Marsha. I have never read Pierre.
I also adored books when I was growing up and still do. I remember staying up late to finish my books and carrying bags of books home from the library. Sebastian also loves books and sometimes laugh at what he sees/reads.
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