Old Books

Okay, so a couple weeks ago, Lindsay brought home an interesting book from her Papa & Grandma's house. I think her Papa took her to some secondhand book shop up in Polson, so she had an interesting mix of books. One of them I recognized immediately. I got excited that she might be reading one of the orignial Babysitter Club books, but upon closer inspection I found that what she had was actually a graphic novel adaption of one of Ann M. Martin's books in that series. I mentioned to Lindz that I had read those books when I was a young girl, and said something about maybe trying to find them so she could read them.

The next day she calls me excitedly from her room. I went to see what the hoopla was about and she was sitting at the laptop at her desk. She thought she'd found a Babysitter's Club website, but it was actually an Ebay listing for a ton of those books.

 I have no idea she knew how to do an internet search, looks like its time for some parental controls on that computer, but that's a whole other subject.

So, I did what any mom would do, I bid on those books and I bid enough to ensure I was going to "win" them. I didn't think much about it after paying, but then yesterday Lindsay asked when they would be coming. I couldn't remember if they'd been shipped normally or that extra slow book rate, so I said sometimes books take a long time to mail. On the way to the bus this morning we picked up the mail and guess what was in there? Yep, a big box full of books. Lindsay was so excited and will be eagerly counting the hours til she gets home this afternoon to peruse them, I'm sure. I carried the box home and emptied it onto the counter. I think there are like almost 30 books in the pile, not all the series, but a good portion of it. I was sort of disappointed to see two copies of a couple of the books, but besides that I couldn't help but smile.

I can clearly remember when I read those books and how I would devour them and then count the days til I could go back to the bookstore and buy the newest one. I would go into that bookstore upstairs from the clothing store in the small town we lived in and beeline right to the shelf where I knew they were. I wouldn't spend my allowance on anything else but books back then usually. My friend Janelle and I would buy them and share them with each other. I kept those books for a long time, and then sometime around college or marriage, when I was cleaning out my belongings, I somehow made the choice to get rid of them and only keep a few childhood books. I dont' know how many of those books I ended up owning, but I have a feeling there were a ton of them and that's probably why I chose to get rid of them. Right about now I'm wishing I would've kept them though, for Lindsay's sake. I can't wait to see what she thinks of them. And I think I'm going to look around for the rest of the series for her, at least the first few books so she can see how the club even started. You can't read a series of books and skip the first couple books!

You want to know the funniest thing? I looked at the publication date on the earliest book that came in that box, it said 1986. I was ten years old, only two years older than my dear Lindsay. How cool is that? I can't express how it warms my hear to see her turning into a reader like I was. :-)

How about you? Is there something your kiddos do that reminds you of you? Or is there a book/series of books you loved and you want your kids to love too?