Was it a monster with flippers?
Before my daughter walked, she had the determination to make her literary needs clear. One winter day, she tucked as many little books as she could between the thumb and forefinger of each hand. Then she crawled to the kitchen, slapping the linoleum with the books she clutched, begging, “Ree! Ree!?
A book welcomes multiple readers. For a child, reading is a social activity, requiring a reader and an attentive devourer of words. In the same way, favorite teachers hold the class captive with a book. People read in close proximity in a library. It’s a rich silence.
Reading with someone you love — or like a lot, or share an affinity with — is a delicious pastime. As a child, I read on the porch with my friend after trips to the library. My husband and I read together long before the flippers appeared. At a cabin not long ago, a friend and I pulled the blankets to our chins in our respective beds at 7 p.m. one summer night, books at hand. Even though she accused me falsely, I believe, of snoring soon after, I did wake up and read until succumbing to dreams a second time.
Winter may have plans to lock us in. What a cozy time to spend indoors reading out loud, reading quietly together and filling the flippers of our mind with books to be read.