A free hint for people with children – read what they read and talk about it as they grow up. I thought this hint fit on the list of “What Good Parents Do” and practiced it often. I read some good children’s and young adult literature as I followed this routine. Little did I know I would get another side benefit back. My daughter Anna, now director of Marshall Public Library [TX], still feels like she should recommend what she is reading. She started me on Susan Vreeland books with Girl in Hyacinth Blue and more recently recommended The Forest Lover.
They are both good reads. I won’t repeat a synopsis that you can get by googling on line. I’ll just point out one my favorite things about The Forest Lover – the great quotes that are embedded in the text.
• “It’s good to grow up with a sister. Share things. That makes them good sisters.”
• “We start this life and we’ve got most of us, all that we need. Then circumstance or accident robs us – a finger or a toe or a friend or a dream – and we go on, and maybe we learn something. Loss or no loss, we go on.”
• “Maybe that’s what love was – walking willingly into the unknown for the sake of the other.”
• “When you love, you’ve got to love through and through.”
I think you could do some serious reflection thinking about these one at a time.
Most of Anna’s recommendations these days are for books written for adults, but she does still let me know if she sees a good children’s or young adult book I would like .