Paddington, Anne and Liesel

Reading was a favorite pasttime when I was a child. Books made great friends and great gifts too. My mother started me with a boxed, three-book set of the Paddington Bear series. Just the other night I saw a promo for a Paddington movie. Do kids today even know about the marmalade-loving bear from the Darkest Peru left in the Paddington train station? Seems they are about to.

Then I got hooked on Anne of Green Gables. Anne was my girl. I adored her spirit, her spunk, her "scope of imagination." One Christmas, I played Santa for an anonymous, needy child. My child was eleven and asked for very little. That in itself impressed me. She didn't ask for electronic games or a bike. She asked for a book. My kind of girl. I turned immediately to Anne. My hope is that a dreamer, a reader and a writer were born.

If time permitted, I would reach forThe Book Thief. A former boss' husband recommended it. Best thing anyone ever suggested to me. Little Liesel learns to read from her foster father and she never looks back. Though war rages around her, she reads. When reading material runs out, she breaks and enters the mayor's home and steals books. Oh, the wife is hip to it. In fact, she leaves some recommendations of her own.

Much like Anne, Liesel's spirit and determination elate me. Seriously. I never realized how much I enjoyed literature narrated by young people. Looking at my bookshelf makes it sink in. But it also reminds me that life is a journey. Watching these characters (in my mind's eye) come of age makes me feel a proud mama.

I have two days off for the New Year's break. I doubt still the thief and I will be reacquainted. But it's okay. She, Anne, and Paddington live on in my heart always.

This post was inspired by The Daily Post Off the Shelf.