Books, books, books!

I have been on a reading binge lately. My television has been rather lonely because I've been buried in books! My favorite thing to do on a Saturday is snuggle up with my pup and a good book!

For me, the love of reading started young. I have fond memories of walking to the library with my mom as a child, checking out loads of books, and reading them all week. When I got to grade school, library check-out was one of the highlights of the week, where I met friends like Ramona (Quimby), Herbie (Jones), Sarah (Crewe), and so many others. Now, I love reading to my nieces who are four and seven, and even more, watching my seven-year-old niece fall in love with books like I did.

Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on who you are), brick-and-mortar book stores have been vanishing, and COVID has made libraries harder to get to as often as one might like.

But.

Libraries are full of audio books, ebooks, and other electronic reading sources that we can access from the comfort of our couches! My library provides access through Hoopla, Libby, and OverDrive, and that's where I get most, if not all, of my books, and what makes it easy to always have my "on deck book" at the ready.

For kids, one of my favorite resources is Epic. It has thousands of books for all ages, from audio books, to read-to-me, to just plain ebooks (though there is nothing plain about an ebook!) Access is simple, especially when teachers are already using Epic in the classroom, which is exactly what we did in first grade right before break.

All the kids got to access their own Epic account and spend time finding books to read over break.  Epic is always free to teachers during the school day, and parents who connect to their child's classroom account can get one free book per day outside of school hours.  Additionally, Epic offers a subscription that families can purchase for unlimited reading outside of school hours.

The bottom line is that no matter how you access your books, there is nothing better than a good story, no matter how young or old you are!

P.S. I was yesterday years old when I realized that GoodReads is the perfect place to keep my book list, much better than the notes file on my phone!

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