Library Card Month

September is officially Library Card Sign-Up Month.

If you or your kids don't have library cards, this would be a perfect time to get them.

I started reading to my children within days of bringing them home from the hospital. That sounds a little weird, I know, but I wanted to talk to them. With my first child, especially, I had no idea what to say to her, so I read to her. By the time she was 2, she would pick out 10 to 15 of her "most favoritest" books every night and we'd read for an hour or so before she went to sleep.

When the boy came along, we just tucked him in alongside us and kept on reading! We visited the library at least every other week, if not more often, on story time days. The kids would listen to the stories, then pick out a couple of books to take home. We found some of the most memorable books that way. Some of their favorites:

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (and that family of books)
What Do You Do With a Kangaroo
The Dress I'll Wear to the Party
Emma Bean (My daughter's most favoritest!)
Where the Wild Things Are

Now their favorites are:

The Bible. Son likes the New Living Translation, Daughter prefers a parallel Bible with NIV/The Message.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
To Kill a Mockingbird
Artemis Fowl Books

I know there are more, but now that they're teenagers, book discussions happen less frequently. Bummer. Their literary tastes have grown in the last decade. They have an appreciation for the written word and that blesses me!

Getting a library card at our house was an earned priveledge. Each child had to be able to sign their name on the back of their library card. Both children were able to do that by the time they were three or four...I can't remember exactly. The pride they exuded on the day we went to the library, they acquired their very own library cards and were able to check books out on their own was something I'll never forget. It was a right of passage. They graduated from being toddlers into preschoolers with responsibility. We'd mark the calendar with the date the books had to be returned and their job was to keep track of the due dates and let me know when we HAD to turn those books in. If they didn't remind me, they had to pay the late fees from their allowance (50 cents per year, so they didn't have much to mess with after tithing and putting some in savings). Of course, Mom forgot sometimes, too. Then the bill was on me. They loved those days!

Celebrate September by visiting the library and getting a library card. You may be surprised at what you'll find lurking on those shelves!