Travels in Storyland . . .

I love children's books. And, of course, I love our grandsons, Graham and Dean, to pieces! So the opportunity to read book after book after book with Graham and Dean is always a highlight of our visits. It's a winning combination!! Grandma and Grandpa have unlimited time to read story after story after story --- and a number of favorites are read over and over again.

Dean is still more interested in chewing on books, but Graham is now helping us to read! It's so much fun to re-read a familiar book to Graham and leave off the last word in a sentence he knows well. He LOVES to supply the missing word, and during this visit, I've started leaving out entire phrases. He'll play along for awhile, and then plead, "YOU read, Grandma!"

The Southeast Steuben County Library (formerly the Corning Public Library) is a treasure trove! It has one of the largest children's rooms I've ever seen -- Graham is so comfortable there, and loves nothing more than to choose new books and CD's! You can choose as many as you want to borrow (Really! No limit!) and this week he picked out 13 new books and 2 new CD's. The Travels of Babar, Babar and Father Christmas, and Curious George Gets a Medal are three favorites this week. We all (the adults) got a good chuckle out of the not-so-politically-correct "fierce and savage cannibals" that tie up Queen Celeste (Babar's wife) and hold her hostage. The book was indeed written back in the early 1930's.

Better than just about anything. Reading books with our grandsons. Ahhh...