Building a library: Part 2, A start

Our parents read to us when we were little - Kelly's mom couldn't seem to get a moment's peace without Kelly bringing her a book to read or sliding one under the bathroom door. We believe that our parents' commitment to reading to us made us the readers we are today.

We're very big into reading at the house - Kelly practically devours books, and Otis loves his Horus Heresy, Dragonlance, and anything by Neil Gaimann. Our library is both our pride and pain (just when it comes to making it under our weight allotment for moving), and we have over 1000 books.

So when it comes to books for Eirik, we got our library started for him with a book from Auntie Erin:


You Were Loved Before You Were Born is a very cool story about all of the things a family and their friends do to get ready and welcome a new baby. It's a really sweet book.

We also would be amiss if we didn't pick up the perennial favorite of preschoolers and past-presidents alike, The Very Hungry Caterpillar:


Kelly snagged a copy of this book and a really nifty caterpillar rattle-y toy thing at Safeway on clearance one day. It's a good book for learning colors and numbers, and the pictures are pretty spiffy.

We also have a couple of books at home that are Kelly's favorites and will get read to Eirik a lot:

Cat, You Better Come Home is a really fun read by Garrison Keillor. Kelly's a big fan of Garrison Keillor and his Lake Wobegone Days series as well as the weekly radio program, A Prairie Home Companion. This book has got some great rhymes in it (can you think of something that rhymes with Chateaubriand? Garrison did!) and tells the story of a dissatisfied feline who leaves home for fun and adventure!

This is a Reading Rainbow book, and could quite possibly be the reason why Kelly loves to cartoon as much as she does. What happens when a boy leaves a drawing stranded on tablet of paper? You get Simon's Book!

We hope that Eirik loves these books as much as we do!