It does not matter if the book has pictures or words or neither, if it has a cover it must be opened. Have you ever stopped to think why this is true, especially of children? We are curious creatures and knowing that between the leaves there are surprises and that each bound creation has something different, and that each page of a single bound creation has a relationship to the others in that same book, these bits of knowledge drive us to expose the secrets of a book. When was the last time you held a book you did not open? My daughter cannot clean her room if there are words in it, even a scrap of newspaper with words incoherent is worthy of decoding, and she must decode it. My son knows there are words and understands that the order of speech and the order of written words and letters is essential to valid communication: no one knows what his name is unless he spells it. (No one knows what I have named him unless I spell it. It's not unique to his pronunciation, but to the rarity of his name.) He is also a punster. He loves when I read aloud so he can make jokes, or when the author and illustrator have made jokes using language. My children love words.
Books are environmentally friendly: they are useful in any environment. I wanted the children to experience a social reading environment. The library has served well in the past, but they needed a change. We went to the bookstore where they had reading and a craft, and milk and cookies. The milk and cookie cost a dollar, but it was worth it to them, and I loved watching them surrounded by equally enthralled children.
Shot on Auto-Flash+Zoom while my son allowed me to walked away. He is in a clingy stage, and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get far enough away for the photo.
1 comment:
don't know that i've ever had that relationship with books. but i know people who have . . . and a couple of them are members of your family :)
awesome pic!
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