Adventures

Recently, a friend recounted how he had been reading world history to his 15 year old daughter when she was too tired to keep studying. He had mentioned that, even though it was a history text, it was still enjoyable just to be reading to her again. It reminded me how much I miss reading aloud to my own children. Reading "experts" insist that we should start reading to kids prior to birth and stay at until they move out. Most of us, however, reach a time when they just don’t want to be read to anymore. Good memories though. We started with Dr. Seuss and worked our way right up through the children’s classics. I can’t imagine how many hours I spent curled up with my kids reading to them. There was a time when I was so into it that after an evening out I’d fetch the books from my children’s rooms and "catch up" on the part the baby sitters had read. I think we read "Danger in Quicksand Swamp" three times! Even if you’re like me, with no children at home, there are still people in our lives to read to: nieces and nephews, older parents and grandparents, grandchildren, folks who are sick, and the like. As adults we tend to become functionally illiterate, at least figuratively, because we only read what we absolutely have to. In this world of TV, movies and electronic entertainment, there is a tendency to think that books are obsolete. May it never be! Something magical happens to the human mind when we actually have to use our imaginations instead of having the whole story acted out for us. We need to keep reading and we need to share it with others. If you have kids, read to them all the time. If you don’t have kids around, find some and pass on that most precious of gifts ... the human imagination. And please, try not to fall asleep or skip any pages. Adventures With each book, a new adventure Beckons from the page unturned Where mysteries await, unsolved And lessons yet unlearned We can hardly wait for story time And for each book unread Which awaits us there, upon the shelf Next to my child's bed What will our story be tonight Are pirates on the prowl The pioneers are heading west Eagle, hawk or great horned owl Gators in a secret swamp Or sailing ships of old Will we foil the villain, after all Or find the hidden gold The possibilities are endless Cries of excitement still resound For high adventure in the sky Beneath the sea or underground Our imaginations draw us in To worlds we never dreamed To plots which twist and turn in ways We never would have schemed Until we finish up a book And see it to the end Then we simply pull another down And start off, once again To share adventures of discovery In places strange and new The magic world of books and story time The magic world I share with you By Frank Carpenter ©