We are a family of happy readers. Not that we don’t have our reading ups and downs. We do. It’s my job to keep everyone supplied with books, so I know better than anyone.
The downs can be difficult. As the Provider of Books, one of the downs for me is when the kids turn their noses up at books that I’m nearly certain they’d like. For example, neither of them wants to read The Hobbit. I practically begged Livia to read it. I told her, “It’s like Harry Potter before Harry Potter existed. Almost everybody likes it. Plus there’s a dragon in it!” And you know what she said? “Just because there’s a dragon in it doesn’t mean it’s good!” Can’t argue with that, sadly.
And though Livia keeps rejecting so many excellent books, every few days she comes into my office and announces, “I need more books!” As if I can make books magically appear! It’s my own fault, I suppose. Somehow I always manage to find a few more age-appropriate books that are likely to please. This time it was three Robin McKinley books that had been hiding behind a picture of my grandfather and the Harper Hall trilogy from Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series, which I hadn’t thought of before because most of the books from that series were were written for an older audience.
Livia reads fast, and those books won’t last long. Getting more reading material isn’t as easy as I’d like it to be, though. We’re still holed up at home and my library card has expired. So, buying books is still a more appealing option than it would normally be, and I admit that I gave in to the impulse this week and bought a ton more. But this is the last time for a while. (You know that even if I meant that as I was typing it, and I’m not sure I did, I can’t be trusted to keep my promise, but please pretend that I can and will.) Livia’s and Marshall’s library cards aren’t expired, so I’ll try to show the library a little more love.
Right now Marshall’s really digging a series that I gave him for Christmas (Matt Myklusch’s Jack Blank Adventure series). Livia’s rereading Rick Riordan’s Magnus Chase series, which makes me glad that I bought them. I am almost done with The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde. I have a lot of books to choose from next, and I’m eager to get started on something new. We’re a happy reading family.