Naomi’s Book Club

Naomi recently joined a book club at one of her after school programs, and she is loving it. The idea of being a part of a book club is a thrill for her. I’m Mama now, she says. A reader, who goes off into the world to discuss the things she is reading. Naomi, my most self-aware child, although that bar is quite low considering the other two, asked me how I got my kids into books, which is such a funny question. They got themselves into their own books, off on their adventures, and I’m glad to be left behind.

Junia, not wanting to be left behind, has started her own book club. She is vaguely aware of needing to leave the house for her book club, but she is not one to get bogged down in unimportant details. It’s a journey to understand that people may have different opinions from her, that her friends (i.e. children her own age) may like books that she doesn’t, or that she may like books that they don’t. That will be a real life lesson for her to learn. Anyways, she picks a book from her big brother or sister’s shelf, because I think she has an idea that board books are not serious enough, and tucks it away with some snacks into her bag, and we go through a little pageant of pretending she needs to be dropped off somewhere to discuss her books with her book club.

We also have a book club here in the shop, which has been a delight to consider. It’s run by Celina and Mai, on the team, and I love the books they pick and hearing why they picked it and what else they’re reading.

In any case, books are the magic sauce. They are the stories that teach us where to look for treasures, the language to understand them, the journeys that stretch us and set us off on our own adventures. All the beauty and hardness and the big sky of life.

Hope you’re reading your own something good these days.