Passing Down a Passion for Books

When I was little, I wanted to be Laura Ingalls Wilder. I read all of her books, and most days, I’d trade any of my modern-day luxuries to be that little girl on the prairie.

These days, when I’m sitting in thick Philadelphia traffic or watching my MacBook spin the “pinwheel of death,” I sometimes dream of the same thing. Sometimes, I wouldn’t mind giving up cable TV, electricity and laundry machines for the feeling of wide open spaces, working for the simplicity of survival and skipping out on all of our modern-day challenges.

When I was little, my mom handed down her tattered and torn copies of all of Wilder’s books. She had a box set when she was a kid. I still remember the perfect penmanship scripted in pencil with her name on the inside cover of each copy.

I read and re-read every book in the set. It was my place to escape as a kid, and I loved dreaming of Laura’s life.

Today, I want to pass the same down to my daughter. Having just turned 5, I wasn’t sure she was old enough to enjoy them thoroughly, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. After the library was missing most of its copies in the series, I decided to break down and buy the full set for her.

I figured if she wasn’t ready just yet to enjoy them, she soon would. She is just a summer away from starting Kindergarten, and is only now starting to sound out words and read on her own. So each night, we cuddle up in her bed, and I read a chapter to her.

My daughter is not always easily amused. She hates going to bed, and other than quick picture books, she’s always been less interested in having books read to her than my son.

Still, I figured we’d give it a whirl, and she is in love. She anxiously awaits her bed time now, and is thrilled to snuggle up to mom and listen to the next chapter in the saga. She is tuned completely in, loving Laura, Mary, Baby Carrie, Ma and Pa just as much as I did.

We are already half way through the first book. I’m more than glad that I bought the full box set for her. While my mom still has hers, and I’d love to pass it down someday, they are a tad too delicate to give a preschooler. She’s excited to have her own.

I’ll have to have her scrawl her name in pencil inside each cover. I hope she hangs on to them, re-reads them when she is of an age to do so on her own, and saves them for her daughter someday.

It’s awesome to be able to pass down the stories I love, from her grandma, to her mom and now to her. It is awesome to me that the stories still resonate with her, as they did for me and for my mom, too.

And, for those dedicated readers that are wondering, yes, bedtime has been much more peaceful since we started our chapter reading ritual. No cuss words were necessary.