Re Books:
The year I am in second grade, I leave Dick, Jane, and Sally behind in the pages of the primers of first grade and read my first full-length chapter book, The Happy Hollisters by Jerry West. I perch myself in an upholstered chair in our living room in Cranford, NJ, curl my legs up into the chair, remove the illustrated dust jacket so my hands are in direct contact with the nubby, faux-leather, red book cover, open to the first page of chapter one, and I am gone. Pete, Pam, Ricky, Holly, Sue, and I have a mystery to solve.
Do not get in our way.
For any reason.
…
Several decades and nearly 4000 books later, I have not stopped reading.
To my delight, I discover today that the happy Hollisters have their own website, where I see the copywriting that promises to turn your young reader into a lifelong reader—truth in advertising there, I tell ya!
Re bookmarks:
What did I use as a bookmark when I read The Happy Hollisters? Perhaps a bookmark provided by the Weekly Reader Book Club? Couldn't tell you.
Over the years, though, I've become increasingly particular about the bookmarks I use. No longer for me the torn scrap of paper, the wrinkled grocery receipt, the postmarked business envelope. Now I paint my own bookmarks, and one of the exquisite pleasures of starting a new book—an exquisite pleasure in its own right—is turning to my collection to select the bookmark that announces itself to be just the right one, with just the right je ne sais quoi element to pair it with the book at hand. The bookmark is a vital part of the experience.
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| from my collection |
