I heard a thud in the cart next to me. I turned around to see my daughter standing there with her arms loaded with books. She was using her chin to hold the stack of books in order to free one off her hands.
“What?” she asked. Apparently, my face showed my displeasure. I told her to put them back. She asked why as she returned the books to the shelves. I told her they were not age appropriate books for one thing. Her father reminded her that she was just learning to read for another.
“But I am not a ‘scaredy cat.’ Those books would not bother me,” she stated defiantly. I noticed then that they were all thrillers/mysteries. She had judged them all by their telling covers. Death was in the title of at least one of them.
Wow! She had not done this when we were in the kid’s aisle just moments before. . .she just asked about a couple of Toy Story books. She did not even ask if she could get these books. She just started collecting them and putting them in the cart. . . I did not see this coming.
Equally as disturbing was how quickly her disappointment turned to satisfaction when my husband told her she could buy them all when she learned to read them.
Yikes! Does this mean she is going to have the same book obsession as my husband?
Don’t get me wrong. . .I am thrilled that she wants to read. I love that she is driven.
I love to read. I like books. However, unlike my husband, I do not have trouble parting with fiction books when I am done reading them.
Early in our marriage, I learned to avoid Barnes and Nobles, Borders, and especially used book stores.
I did talk him into taking some of his books to a used book store once. I do not think he has ever fully forgiven me even though it was years ago. (I must admit that we did not get hardly anything for them, but that is another story).
My concern is now my daughter. Is she going to just love books, or is she going to be obsessed with them also? Could it be a genetic trait? Or has she managed to pick it behaviorally despite it not being overt since she was an infant?
Either way, I am just going to be glad she wants to read.
…well…I have a copy of Capote’s “In Cold Blood” I could send her. Good classic reading.
Umm . . . thanks, but no thanks. I don’t think she’ll be able to read at that level for several years.
Okay. I’ll save it for next Summer.