What's Your Reading Ritual?

A Patron Offers A Lovely Habit

The library received a delightful note from one of our regular patron families - mom, dad and young daughter - about a tradition they began in 2024 that they want to continue into the new year and beyond.

They come to the library once a week, and their daughter is a voracious reader! I thought it was worth sharing because this is exactly the sort of community we work so hard to foster at our little library.

I’ll let them explain:

We decided to start a tradition where we buy (our daughter) a copy of our favorite books that we checked out of the library that year. I wanted to share which ones we chose and why:

• Wild Honey from the Moon by Kenneth Kraegel & Evergreen by Matthew Cordell: I grouped these two books because they were my favorites, but also because they’re both mini “chapter” books with great art, memorable characters, and a spirit of adventure.

• The Barnabus Project by The Fan Brothers: I love books with unique character designs (i.e. anything Dr. Seuss), and this is full of them. Plus I loved the underlying message that you don’t need to be perfect to find love and acceptance.

• Town Is By The Sea by Joanne F. Schwartz: The illustration is gorgeous, and I loved the juxtaposition of the son’s ability to appreciate the beauty and magic of his hometown with the tradition of hard work his family has done over generations to make that life possible.

• The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld: We actually checked out this book from the library in (my wife’s) hometown in CT while we were visiting her family. A highly effective and touching exploration of how everyone manages life’s difficulties differently, and why that process is tough but important to help us rise back up.

  

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  Those are all excellent choices, and we love the idea of both keeping track of your reading AND treating yourself to some books gleaned from that supply as well! How about you? What’s your book buying process? Do you have a library/book buy ritual or do you just walk into a book store and go crazy!