Baby's book shelf

We received so many thoughtful gifts while I was pregnant with Gus. One of them was the book, "The read-aloud handbook" by Jim Trelease. Our friend who is a librarian brought it to one of my baby showers and Calvin and I have both read it and loved it. It has so many ideas on how to help your kids to love reading, book suggestions for different ages and explains why reading is so important developmentally. 

Calvin and I are readers and can both credit our parents for turning us on to books. My Dad is a talented story teller (and a top notch Toast Master!) and a big reader. My mum has worked in publishing for 25 plus years and was always bringing home boxes full of books and comics and magazines that my sisters and I and our friends would devour! Our house was lined with book shelves and we took trips to the library often. I didn't always read high brow books ("Chort" anyone? Or that series about a teenage girl country band where the first line was "Whoa baby and yowza!") but I developed a love of reading early on. And according to Trelease, that is what's important! 

Growing up Calvin would occasionally get to break his 8 pm bedtime and stay up as late as he wanted, all night even, as long as he was reading. Isn't his mom so smart?? 

We hope Gus will grow up to love reading as much as we do.