You Are What You Eat
As we waited in the carpool line today, my almost three-year old daughter Lydia spoke profound words from the middle row of our minivan. “Mama! I’m hungry!” she said. “I need some books!”
My children haven’t always been book eaters. Have you seen the junk food available to children these days? Cable television, video games, electronic toys, indoor play worlds, a class for everything. Not all of these are bad in and of themselves, but when you fill up on them…. When my son Nathan’s first request after breakfast became, “Can I watch a video?” I knew it was time for a new diet. My children were truly hungry, as was I, for more nutritious fare.
Imagine my young eaters taken to the finest patisserie in Paris, a covered dish supper at a Southern Baptist church and a Chinese banquet, and you will have a glimpse of their wonder and awe when we entered the Anderson Library.
What a feast! That first visit, they could hardly contain themselves. Now they know their table manners and can easily navigate the buffet. Out come Hoban’s Frances and Rey’s George. Nathan has lots in common with Henke’s Chester, while Lydia favors Lilly. They’ll find some new favorites, too: maybe nibble some Zolotow, savor Knight’s illustrations, or ask, “May we have some more Toot and Puddle, please?”
Finally, the ultimate doggie bag. We can take some books home!!!
The difference in our lives? We’ve traded junk food for gourmet fare. More snuggly moments reading with Mommy and Daddy. More questions and conversations about feelings, and farmers, and fiddles. A search for my too quiet children reveals not toddler mischief-making but a three-year old lovingly turning fairy tale pages and a four-year old reciting Green Eggs and Ham to baby sister Grace. “Will you read this to me?” is heard more often, and a promise of a trip to the Library has more impact than that of a trip to McDonald’s.
We know the Library is much more than a buffet of books, but what could be more essential than this primary service the Library provides: giving us food for thought as necessary to our living as bread and water. Thank you to our Library for sating our appetite for the lovely, the marvelous, the mystical, the difficult, the puzzling, the rare. Thank you for giving my children the opportunity to be still and ruminate, to see themselves and taste the wonders of the world. Thank you for helping Mom to restore her vocabulary and savor once again a delicious novel. We have all learned afresh that we need healthy portions of reading to make us grow big and strong.
Bon appétit, Price family.
