Welcome back to the #LMMLinkup where we love to share about why we read. Reading and learning are central to our mission. We love to encourage others to find inspiration in the written and spoken word. Encouraging life-long learning unifies us as bloggers.

We have great news this week too. We have a new permanent co-host, Beth Strickenburg.

Beth is a homeschool mom, and can often be found under a tree reading aloud to her son. She has a masters in French Literature, and loves all things French and bookish. Her blog features reviews of books for all ages, including a number of book lists for homeschoolers. She blogs at Pages and Margins. You can follow her on her Facebook page, Pinterest, and Twitter.

Why I Read

by Beth Strickenburg

It was so easy to read as a kid. I grew up as an only child and I would spend hours—whole afternoons—lost in a book. Tucked away in a favorite chair or up in a climbing tree, I would enter the wardrobe with Lucy Pevensie, cross the Lake of Shining Waters with Anne Shirley, or explore the Phantom Tollbooth with Milo.

It’s harder to read as an adult. Life and kids and responsibilities get in the way, and it can be hard not to see my time reading as wasted time when other responsibilities press down on me. Yet I’ve realized that taking the time to read is just as important for me—if not more so— now than it was when I was growing up. Here are a few of the reasons.

• Reading helps to keep my world big. As a stay-at-home mom living in suburbia, my world can sometimes feel small. I can get caught up in changing diapers or keeping the house clean, and something that happens halfway around the world feels unimportant in my life. But then I read a book like Half a Yellow Sun or Inside Out and Back Again and I’m transported to another place on the globe, where I get to know characters who matter to me. This opens me up to feeling like a part of another community and a larger world. Now when I hear a reference to Nigeria or Vietnam in the news, it’s no longer a random place I’ve never visited—I feel a connection to this place and its people because of the books I’ve read.
• Reading gives me compassion. It can be easy to get caught up in my own story and to surround myself with people who are like me. Reading helps open my mind and my heart to people whose stories are different from my own. It helps me to see the world through different eyes and to understand different circumstances and experiences. After I get caught up in a story like The Nightingale or The Book of Ebenezer Le Page , I come away feeling that I truly know the characters. Their stories become embedded in me. And those stories allow me to better interact with the stories of those around me, and gives me more compassion when the stories are very different from my own.
• Reading helps me understand myself. Sometimes I just need perspective. Perspective on who I am now, and where I’ve come from, and how I’ve changed. Finding just the right book, whose author uses just the right words to describe something I know in my own life can be a magical experience. It gives me words to describe myself and my experience in new ways. I’ve experienced this with Gilead and The Snow Child . It’s the search for these kinds of books—the ones that describe specific moments in my life perfectly, using words I never would have put together myself—that keeps me reading day after day.

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Now on to our weekly linkup! First let’s

Ashley @Circling the Story
Blog/Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest/InstagramLeslie@Forever Joyful  Blog/Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest/Google+Mary @Maryandering Creatively  Blog/Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest/ Instagram/Google+Tami @ThisMomsDelight    Blog/Facebook/Pinterest/Twitter/Instagram/Google Plus 

Next week I will have a new host graphic up and more information for you about Beth. 🙂

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Now let’s celebrate reading and learning by reviewing:

Last Week’s Top Clicked Post!

BEST CHILDREN’S BOOKS ABOUT MUSIC

This week is the second that a post by Maria had the most clicks. I think she had struck a cord with our community with her lively collection of fun books related to music. I so agree with her when she write, “Children’s books about music can aid any child’s development whether they are in music lessons or not. Music books can combine the knowledge of music with literacy and learning life lessons.” Be sure to check our her latest posts.

My Favorite Post of the Week:

Books About Antarctica for Kids

By the Mother of 3 at Our Homeschooling Journey

 

I love penguins and this post featured great books on penguins and more. I love her lists and really recommend that you check out 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!

Follow Mary Hill’s board Literacy Musing Mondays Linkup on Pinterest.   

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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!

 

 

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Sharing this post with the great linkups listed on my Link-up Parties page.