I learned to love books from my mother. She read to us almost every day. I became a lifelong reader at age seven when I couldn't wait any longer to hear the next chapter of Little House on the Prairie, and started reading it myself. The first time I remember reading a story that made me laugh out loud was somewhere in the middle of Ginger Pye, by Eleanor Estes, at age eight.
When you get right down to it, books are like conversations with people you may never meet, people who have been places and done things you might want to do.
What I'm Reading
The Wee Free Men
The Wee Free Men is a fantasy book by the genius writer Terry Pratchett. He is as famous in England as J.K. Rowling. He invented a planet called Discworld, which is like an old-fashioned earth, but magical. Think hobbits, but much funnier. In this book, Tiffany Aching realizes she is a young witch on a mission. With the help of her cast iron frying pan and a crowd of tiny blue fairy-like men (in kilts!), she battles the forces of evil and learns a thing or two along the way.