Welcome back to another week of Literacy Musing Mondays. This week’s guest post highlights books magic. Do you find books magical and exciting? How do books impact your life? I know books play a special part in my life because they inspire me to create and imagine. I hope you enjoy our guest post by Gayl Wright.

The Magic of Books

By Gayl Wright

Books have always been a part of my life from my earliest remembrances. I know my mom read to me a lot and taught me how to read before I ever went to school. My dad was an avid reader bringing home armloads of books every week from the local library. He usually took me with him and I remember eagerly looking forward to those weekly visits.

My dad always took a long time finding books, so I would spend time perusing the shelves and then read while I waited for him. I think I read all the biographies in the kid’s section and many of the fiction offerings. That was how I found Beverly Cleary’s books, and I remember reading about the antics of Henry Huggins and his dog, Ribsy. 

Reading opened up a whole new world for me.

Through my books I could travel far beyond the little suburban neighborhood I called home. I passed the joy of reading on to my children as we had reading time every afternoon. While I read aloud they would draw or color, sometimes trying to illustrate the story. As they got older we incorporated tea time into our afternoon reading.

We devoured books and lived vicariously through the characters.

One day on the Alps with Heidi, another day in Holland with Hans Brinker, or seeing through the eyes of Jo from Little Women. We traveled with Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons characters, experienced the open prairie with Laura Ingalls Wilder, traipsed through Narnia with the Pevensie children, went on adventures with The Hobbit, and learned about life on Prince Edward Island with Anne of Green Gables.

Reading teaches us about relationships between different people.

In our reading we have good and bad examples that show us a lot about human nature and how to relate to each other. Some books that helped me in living out my Christianity in a natural way were those by the Scottish author George MacDonald. His stories are full of adventure but also truth. His characters were true to who they were and came alive in my mind as I was drawn into each story.

As an adult I still enjoy biographies and autobiographies.

One book that is full of almost every emotion you can imagine is The Trapp Family Singers by Maria Trapp. Even though they faced many hard things, Maria still managed to find comical ways to describe some of them. While reading aloud to my daughters there were times we were all laughing so hard it brought tears and I could hardly keep reading.

Other types of non-fiction books are also my friends.

Charlotte Mason and Ruth Beechick helped me stay focused when I started homeschooling. Edith Schaeffer gave insightful advice in the areas of prayer and hospitality. Books by G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, and Os Guinness have been invaluable as they contain much food for thought.

The most important book I have read and continue to read daily is my Bible.

In it are true stories of faith, adventure, obedience and disobedience, miracles, and direction for all of life. This book tells me of God’s love and forgiveness and hope. It teaches how he gives grace and strength and comfort. It shows me how to trust and remember that God is always with me no matter where I go.

What about you? What books have made an impression on you?

Now on to our weekly Literacy Musing Monday’s linkup. First let’s

Now let’s celebrate reading and learning by reviewing:

Last Week’s Top Clicked Post!

Geogie discusses how she started her career trying to write for the movie screen. When she did not achieve success in the field, she did not let go of her dream to write. She just tweaked it and switched genres. Her story is very inspirational.

My Favorite Post of the Week:

Books About Butterflies: Lesson Plans for Ages 3-7

by Nancy “Mimi” Taylor

I love butterflies. This post flutters with fun reads and activities. (excuse the pun. 😉  She covers everything from crafting beautiful butterflies to moving like one.  I guarantee you will find something fun and read with your children. Be sure not to miss this fun post.

Remember to check out other hosts’  blogs to see which posts from last week were their favorites.

Want to be the next to be featured! Just link up a post and if you are read the most, we will feature you. Also please make sure you link back to us so  others will know about our link up and join in. We try to make it worth your while to linkup with us by promoting your posts across our social media networks. We also pin our most clicked and featured posts to our Pinterest Board each week!

Now, it is time to link up to the Literacy Musing Mondays hop! You will have until Saturdays at 12 p.m. now to link up! So come back often.

Linkup Rules:

1. Include a link back or the blog hop button linked to this hop on your posts.
2. Link up the urls to your posts not to your blog.
3. Please remember this is a family-friendly linkup.  Although we believe in the right for adults to read whatever they want to read, we prefer to read wholesome posts that feature literature that edify and uplift families. We reserve the right to delete any posts that are not family friendly. We love all kinds of literature and genres including family-friendly inspirational romances, fantasy, or science fiction. We do not welcome posts featuring books or written with excessive violence, sexual content, or cursing. These posts will be deleted.
4. We also want to be loving community by supporting one another. Please make a point to do this this week! Visit the two posts before yours and at least one other blogger’s post of your choice! I want to see lots of clicks on everyone’s posts. I know as a blogger, you know how it feels not receive comments, right. 🙂 Plus, you could be honored as our Top Commentor if you submit your report to Mary! Remember it is also nice to follow them on their social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
5. Follow your hosts and co-hosts on their social media.
6. Tweet about the link up too.

[tweetthis]Come join the fun! Link up your family-friendly, book- or literacy-related posts at #LMMLinkup ![/tweetthis]

Let’s Celebrate Reading and Learning together this week at Literacy Musing Mondays!

I will also join several of the hops listed on my Link-up Parties page.

Joining several of the hops listed on my Link-up Parties page.