Library Dates

Growing up, we went to the library often enough that I knew the place was awesome. I was very big into kid, then pre-teen, then young adult novels (Boxcar Children, Babysitter’s Club, Nancy Drew, anyone?) and still love to pick up a book just for the sake of a really good read.

When Liv was about a year old, I discovered our neighborhood library. It’s such a treat. Now that we visit once or twice a week, I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to move out of our little nook of San Diego because this little library is so special. We can walk (that has made all of the difference), it’s next to a park (though often rivals it for where the girls want to spend time) and a coffee shop (hey, momma!).

They have a great little children’s section that’s sort of partitioned off from the rest of the library stacks. I don’t feel as guilty as the girls wander, pull books and flip through pages on the floor.

Finding books to bring home is sort of like a treasure hunt. These become our bedtime stories and it’s interesting to see which ones Liv clings to and which ones she’s ready to return the next day.

On especially hot days when we just need to get out of that house during our lunch hour, the library is always our destination! On cooler evenings, sometimes we’ll stop for a hot cocoa on our way.

I’ve mentioned before that our days get so very busy… our little library dates where we can slip away together for 30 minutes are so special.

I hope that these trips will instill in the girls a love of reading that even my best night time character voices can’t keep up with. It brings me great joy when Liv has a stack of 10 new books and she’s just so excited to dive in (even if it means arguing on how many she really gets to bring home). Books transport, books inspire, books help us to grow.

For the young mind, how does the old saying go? ‘Having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card!’

Do you get to read? Sometimes my ‘reading’ comes in the form of a good audio book, Audible is my favorite for listening on my iPhone (makes car travel, cleaning and laundry kind of fun). I’ve been trying to read at night and lately air travel has afforded me a couple of solid hours of uninterrupted book time as well. I can’t complain!

PS as for my own reading, I shared with you all that I was struggling to get into Winter’s Tale. Well, I eventually skipped over it to start The Cuckoo’s Calling (mostly because I adore mysteries and JK Rowling), and I love it so far!