Grandma, Have You Read…

Grandmother with granddaughter reading book in autumn park

Our Friday Fox asked, “Tell us about books that you have been introduced to by your children/grandchildren.”

One of my greatest blessings is knowing that my kids, grandkids, and two great-granddaughters  ALL love books. Specific titles often appear on Christmas lists, and when we shop at the mall together, they’ll often ask to stop at the bookstore. Because of this,  I’ve been exposed to a lot of titles I might not have noticed. 

When my daughters were young, we visited the library often and purchased paperbacks through the school’s book fairs and monthly Scholastic flyers. They each built up their collections, some of which I finally donated when we moved out of our house earlier this year. We had bags full of books from series such as  Babysitters Club, Boxcar Children, Magic Schoolbus, and Magic Treehouse. I used several in my classroom library, so that they were enjoyed by many children. A regular part of the school routine in my classroom was when I’d read aloud while they ate their snacks. Thanks to my daughters and their voracious reading appetites, I never had a shortage of books from which to read.

My son-in-law joined our family shortly after the release of Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code. He happened to notice the book on my end table and recommended that I read an earlier book about the main character,  Angels and Demons. He (my son-in-law) and his wife (my second daughter) both tend to read current best-sellers. Their  home has always been filled with books, and now that they have two school aged kids, that includes children’s books. When they were young enough for me to read aloud to them, I loved finding new-to-me stories in their collections. Now that they’re older and prefer to read on their own, they’ll often tell me about the books they’re reading.

The same son-in-law and my youngest daughter shared a passion for the Harry Potter books, and even attended a local launch party together. Though I’ve never made the time to read this series (or watch the films), I was so glad to see that these events were so well attended.

When she was in high school, my second granddaughter (who’s now a mother herself), asked for a set of the Twilight books for her birthday. A few years later she asked for the Hunger Games books. When she told me a little bit about these series, I wasn’t eager to read them myself, but I was more than happy to support her reading habit.

I’m not certain if the intent of this week’s topic was for me to name books I’ve read that were recommended by my progeny, but there really aren’t many titles that would fit that criterion. But since my own TBR list is so long, I’m content to simply hear about books they enjoy.

Have your kids/grandkids/great-grandkids recommended any good books to you?

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