Happy Mother's Day!

A post on the mamaroots blog asking about "books your mother read to you" spurred me to consider my mother and books and how very many, many books she read to me in my childhood. She continued reading book series' to us for years after we were reading on our own and I was flooded with memories of favorites. So, I thought I'd share here (since it is totally in keeping with the theme of my blog):

I have a LOT of book and mama memories. My origination as a reader and lover of words and books is with my lovely mother and her love for books. As far as a read-alouder, she has a real knack for dramatic readings--no monotones here! She always created voices for all the characters and made things come alive.

The first book memory that comes to mind is of reading Bridge to Terabithia on the train on the way to California when I was like 4 years old. We both cried and cried about the girl dying (and were totally shocked by that twist in the plot).

Crying reminds me of the several times she read the Little House series to us and how she cried every time she got to the part where Jack (the dog) dies. Little House books are probably my favorite books that she read to us. Oh, and then that brought me to Little Women when Beth dies.

Reading another comment left in response to the query about books on the mamaroots blog, then reminded me of my mom reading the Milly-Molly-Mandy books to us and changing the Mandy to Mindy (my sister's name). That led me to remembering the Stairstep Farm (and related books) books and how much I liked those, which led me to think about Anne of Green Gables.

Other favorites read by my mother include the Oz books, The Black Cauldron books, The Dark is Rising books, Chronicles of Narnia, Redwall, The Wrinkle in Time and so on. Tons and tons!

Happy Mother's Day! And, thanks, Mom!