Share favorite books with the next generation (11/28/05)

I have already started buying books for our granddaughter who won’t be born until sometime in January. I have new copies of Tawny Scrawny Lion and The Poky Little Puppy just waiting to be related to a tiny infant for the first time.

I need to make a list of which stories I have already purchased so I don’t end up with a lot of duplicates. Although duplicates might not be that bad of an idea as I seem to remember having to replace Tawny Scrawny Lion once or twice because it fell apart from being read so often.

One title I am still searching for is The Golden Egg Book, a story about a bunny that finds an egg. Perhaps it will appear at Easter time. I know I can find it on the internet but somehow I would much rather buy it in person. There is something pleasing about holding a book that has never been opened even though the story is familiar.

I love books. When I had an especially rotten week awhile back I treated myself to a new Amy Tan novel that had been just released. This wasn’t just any book — it was a hardback! You should understand that I am incredibly cheap and always, always wait for the paperback edition to come out before investing in any of my favorite authors. So this was a very special treat for me.

One tale I haven’t added to my collection so far is Goodnight Moon. I have heard that it is one of the most popular children’s books ever but I have yet to read it. Perhaps I will have to find a copy for the new baby.

Books are essential. They provide a common reference point for many of us. There are entire generations who have grown up with Dick, Jane, Sally and Puff. I bet you can even picture these characters in your mind. They are as familiar to those of my age as Dora the Explorer is to the children of today.

The stories we read to our children provide them with guidelines for how we expect them to behave. They illustrate that good is rewarded and bad is punished. They even go so far as to define what good and bad are.

Reading to our children teaches them the music and cadence of the language. My daughter dated a boy whose mother read books in Japanese. She always found it fascinating that this woman would read her books from back to front. Some written languages are read from top to bottom or bottom to top but by reading American books to our children we teach them that all books should be read from front to back and left to right. Reading any other way seems strange to us even before we realize that it is the squiggles on the pages that are being translated into sounds that have meaning.

As we need a place to keep all those books I plan to help my daughter pick out a bookcase. When she was five years old I bought an unfinished bookcase and let her choose the paint color. She picked out a bright pink. What else would a five-year-old girl choose?

After we painted the thing she asked if she could play in the paint. I said sure. I mistakenly assumed that she wanted to paint pictures on the newspapers we had spread about. I was wrong. What she intended was to squish the bright pink liquid through her fingers.

Keeping that disaster in mind, my daughter and I will find a prefinished bookcase for the new baby if her friends don’t supply her with one at the baby shower. Then I can buy more books.

I really should stop hunting for the tales I read out loud so many years ago. Just like my daughter hated all the books I loved as a child I am sure that the new baby will feel the same way about the stories her mommy once demanded I read repeatedly. Except … I can’t resist acquiring several volumes of Dr. Seuss. I shouldn’t be the only one who can recite “I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am.”[[In-content Ad]]