The weekend before Thanksgiving My Daughter the Librarian hosted a book fair for the Clinton Prairie Library. This annual event was held at the Barnes and Noble location in Lafayette. I attend every year for several reasons. First and foremost is to help my daughter raise money to purchase books, movies, games, and other items for the school library. The other is to work on my Christmas gift list. Plus a side bonus is to enjoy the atmosphere of the bookstore itself, to meet the students who interact with my daughter and son-in-law (who is also a teacher and the varsity baseball coach) on a daily basis, and to enjoy a beverage and a pastry from the Starbucks Café.
This year I shopped primarily for my grandchildren. Neither family had a copy of one of my favorite books, The Polar Express. They will find a copy wrapped under the tree this year. Landon, who will be 5 in January, is learning new things, including how to read. I found a book for him that will stress learning new reading skills. The Little Girl my younger daughter and son-in-law have in their home through foster care loves Peppa Pig and she will receive a book about that character plus a few picture books with new vocabulary words, which she loves to learn. Cooper, who is just over a year old, will receive chunky books that his fingers can grasp and which have pages he can try to turn as he looks at the large pictures and bright colors.
My 88-year-old mother is difficult at Christmas. She has everything she needs, but she loves to read, mainly Christian romances and novels with an Amish setting. A boxed set of novels by an Amish author will be wrapped for her under my sister's tree in Cleveland. My daughter and son-in-law love reading (do you know any librarians who DON'T like to read???) so they selected a few books for their gifts. Plus my 12 year old nephew will turn 13 on Dec. 31 and every year since his birth he has received a book from Aunt Beth for his birthday. Sports books are good for him, and there is a new one just released by an author he enjoys. He did admit on Thanksgiving Day that he is enjoying reading more now than he did, and he said The Fault in our Stars was one of his favorites! Good to know!
I usually share novels or books that I enjoy with several friends and my closest neighbor. I found a book titled A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg that was on sale through Barnes and Noble online and I ordered four copies for gifts (still credited to the Book Fair!).
If there is a reader on your gift list, please consider purchasing a book for that person. I remember looking forward to Christmas morning when I was young so I could start reading all of the new books I was adding to my collection. Nancy Drew books were my favorite then, and I read all of them over and over again.
You can't go wrong with a book---unless someone you know is totally opposed to turning the pages and has other things to do with spare time. Most people have some type of reading interest, from biographies, to novels, to best sellers, to self-help books. If you need a unique gift, shop online at Barnes and Noble or Amazon or stop by your local bookseller and cross some names off your list.
I too love to give books as gifts. Every year, my kids can count on a new book to add to their favorite series. Usually, I will also give my kids a new Christmas story every week from Thanksgiving until Christmas.This year, I have started something new.
ReplyDeleteI saw the idea on Pinterest to wrap up 24 new books and let your children open one every night form December 1st through December 24th, to help them with the excited and anxious feelings between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I loved the idea, and could see immediately how it encourages a child to want to read! Since I have a 10 year old who struggles with a learning disability in reading decoding, and an almost 7 year old who is learning the skills of reading, encouraging a love of reading is so, SO important in my family. However, I knew that spending the money to buy them enough new Christmas books for 24 days was more than I could handle, at least this close to Christmas; plus I already have quite a collection of Christmas stories... Then, my daughter's best friend, a.k.a., my fourth child, had the idea to wrap up books I already had. She suggested that I wrap up some of their favorite stories, the ones that we seem to read the most, so that I knew that they would enjoy it. She reminded me that the book is not the true gift, sharing the story is. (She makes my heart melt!) So, I decided that I would use the Christmas stories that I already have, the favorites that have become holiday traditions, like Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, or Twas the Night Before Christmas, The Polar Express, If You Take a Mouse to the Movies, and even a book that was given to me as a gift when I was very young, A Precious Moments Christmas.
My Boys are in LOVE with this! I think that it will be a new tradition. They are so excited to see what book they find. My daughter, (who is now old enough that she thinks she is too cool to do most "kid things" with her brothers,) is even excited to see what "surprise" story will be opened. They will all three sit and listen to their favorite stories, sometimes they will read them on their own first, but no matter what, all three kids will end up sitting around me, as I re-tell a favorite story to them.
I too had thought about this for my grandchildren, but there are two sets, over 24 days....ok. $$$ is the object that made me forget that idea for now. However, I think I can do a variation of what you are doing with two of them while their folks are celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary with a trip to Marco Island in a couple of weeks. Something fun at Mamaw and Papaw's house! Now to think of things to do with Hank the Elf during that time.....
ReplyDeleteI have grown into liking to read. I never really use to read. If I had an assignment that I had to do that involved reading I would go and look at reviews and outlines of the book. I would never sit and fully read the book. But as the years have gone on I have become more and more interested in reading. The Polar Express is also one of my all-time favorite Christmas movies. I also love to watch the movie. It is a tradition that I started with my nephews. I am not around them as much as I would like to be anymore. But when that time comes around I make sure that I show up to read the book with them then sit and watch the movie.
ReplyDeleteThe Fault in our Stars is a very interesting movie, also a tear jerker. I loved the movie and watch it all the time. I have not read the book yet so I think I will have to put that on my list of things to read. I love watching movies that have books wrote about them. Then I can see the difference in both of them. Sometimes I sit and wish that the movie followed the book more and sometimes it is the other way around. But if your nephew read the book hopefully he has watched the movie because it is an amazing movie. It also opens your eyes a lot about things.
My girls had many books on their Christmas list this year and that made me one happy momma! Most oldest has become a total bookworm, and my youngest is at the point where she is enjoying reading. We did decide to get books for my nephews for Christmas and my girls were excited to pick out books to give to their cousins.
ReplyDeleteGreat family activity too---shopping for books. As I said before, Barnes and Noble is one of my very favorite shopping spots. Merry Christmas ---and Happy Reading!
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