Anniversaries This Week

I was remiss in mentioning the anniversary of Dr. Suess's birthday on Monday...oops. He would have been 105 this year. Did you see the Google search page on Monday? Wasn't it great? So, in honor of Dr. Suess, Read Across America Day is also March 2nd each year. According to Random House, over 45 million readers celebrated Read Across America Day. I think on one hand that is wonderful, on another it's sad. It's sad that we need a day to encourage folks to read. We don't need a day to encourage folks to watch television or play video games, but we need a day for reading.

I was reading an article this week that was based on a survey of what people felt were things they could give up in the present economy and what were things they couldn't part with. Both older and younger age groups said they couldn't part with their basic cable. I'm not saying people need to give up their cable completely, but I think an awful lot of people could benefit from not having it for awhile to realize that they really CAN do without cable. It isn't actually a necessity. I'm living proof of that. It's been almost a year since I had mine turned off. And now, I wouldn't turn it back on for anything. I love the extra time I have in my day. I have money to pay for my pet's medications. And oh, the worlds I have explored in my books! I've heard from more than one successful author that they didn't have cable growing up and they found their entertainment from books. I'm so glad they did. They might not have grown up to be authors had they been otherwise entertained.

Anyway...another anniversary this week is the 40th anniversary of the THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR. In honor of that anniversary, Penguin was asking about everyone's first favorite book. And this connects to The Literate Housewife's Thursday Thoughts question...o.k., it's not Thursday yet, but I think it was actually from last Thursday. Anyway, she was asking about your favorite childhood memories. So, my first favorite book was ARE YOU MY MOTHER. My first favorite book I could read by myself was THE MOUSE AND THE MOTORCYCLE. And to tie everything to books, I'll mention a favorite childhood memory that's book-related. When I was in the third grade, my teacher, Mrs. McAfee, would read out loud to us in class. I definitely remember CHARLOTTE'S WEB because she cried when she read that one. I can't say she was my favorite teacher, but looking back, I admit she introduced me to some of my favorite books, especially THE BOXCAR CHILDREN. She had her whole set in hardcover in the class so we could borrow them and read them. That's a great series! What are some of YOUR memories from childhood that relate to books and reading?

In honor of all these anniversaries, I hope you can find a child to share some reading with this week. And Mrs. McAfee, thank you! Thank you for helping to make me the book lover I am today.

Happy Reading everyone!