A Novel Idea

As I read the comics (I read the other parts too!) in our local paper Thursday I came across an Ask Amy column that I couldn't pass up.  The title read "This year, put a book on every bed".  It's a grass-roots literacy campaign.  The idea is very simple, this Christmas Eve, place a wrapped book at the foot of the bed of your child or children.  What a novel idea!  See what I did there?  Yeah, cheap pun, I know.


Isn't this a great idea?  I'm sure many of you already buy books for your children at Christmas.  We got Mamma Llama Holiday Drama from Amazon the week after Thanksgiving.  It's not so much as giving books as gifts, it's the idea of creating a new and awesome Christmas tradition.  For every Elf on the Shelf, lets leave a wrapped book at the foot of our children's beds.


Many of you know books are a huge love in my life.  I'm very obsessive about books and their characters.  Examples include:

Reading the ENTIRE Twilight Saga between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve.

Reading the ENTIRE Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries in 8 weeks.

Reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows from New Year's day to Jan 3rd.

So yes, to say I love books is an understatement.  Books are magical.  They transport you to another place.  I can remember wanting to live in the little house in the big woods with Laura Ingalls herself.  I remember dreaming about the Aleutian Islands while reading Island of the Blue Dolphins.  I still dream about being on platform 9 and 3/4 waiting for the Hogwarts express.  Running through the forest in Forks.  That cold and frightening winter in Hedestad with Lisbeth Salander.  The gritty streets of Jersey with Lula and Stephanie Plum.  This is a love affair that started years ago, as a child reading Richard Scarry and Stan and Jan Berenstain.  Hours spent at the bookstore with my mother.  The hours spent in my room lost in a new world. 


I know, I know, NERD ALERT!  I'm proud to wear this geek badge.  It's cool to love books now.  How awesome do we look with our Nooks, Kindles, and iPads?  Oh, My!  I'm the person I am today because of books, and being raised in a culture where books were a treat, an adventure, and a way of life.  Growing up we may have gone without some luxuries, but books were not one of them.


So this Christmas Eve, I will be placing a new, wrapped book on each girls bed.  To open on Christmas morning.  I'm sure they will be lost among the other bigger treasures of the day, but later when the sun goes down and the Christmas lights twinkle, we will be reading.  Together, losing ourselves for just a few moments.


Happy Blogging,
Megan

To learn more about "A Book on Every Bed" CLICK HERE.