The magic of books

(They swear the drink actually smoked.) That night could have been a prelude to the first book I can remember reading to them: Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss.

Reading tops their list of what they remember most about growing up with me. They remember a picture book by Juliet Snipe entitled The Boy With the Square Eyes, a cautionary tale about a boy who watched too much TV.

The Twits is still a favourite on my children’s list. When I read it, they laughed until they collapsed on the bed, and then they made me read each page about ten times. I reread the entire book to them countless times, and learned the value of a book, literally speaking.They turned out to be better value than oranges or mangoes while in season, because children like to have books read to them over and over again.

The BFG was their first scary book. They remember it fondly, but I remember Ijanaya’s worried look as a five-year-old, and I remember Zino sucking his thumb furiously as he stole glances at the window.

I always had plenty Christmas stories on hand. We read The Night Before Christmas, The Little Match Girl, Charlie Brown’s Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr Seuss. I bought every Christmas story I could find, and those books helped build suspense for the holiday.

Eventually, we graduated to mysteries and horror. Zino loved The Goose Bumps series, and to this day, our favourite is The Ghost Next Door. I consider it one of the best books I ever read.

What Zino says he remembers the most is my voice while reading.

He describes it as “charismatic.” “Your voice made those stories come alive. I could see them in my mind,” he says.

So 25 years later, he still has my voice in his head. Children don’t forget your voice when you read to them.

Ijanaya remembers stories by Trinidadian writer Lynn Joseph featured in A Wave In Her Pocket and The Mermaid’s Twin Sister, a book of Japanese folk tales and a collection of Greek mythology, all of which fed her creative writing.

She recalls Brother Eagle, Sister Sky, Chief Seattle’s speech about the environment. I credit that book for making her environmentally conscious.

Zino loves movies with subtitles, which have opened up a whole new world for him. His two favourite movies have been Passion of the Christ and the Hindi movie, Water.

Ijanaya is an avid reader. Reading emboldened Ijanaya to follow her dreams. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in fashion design, and she combines that now with a master’s degree in library science from Kent State University.

Books, reading and research have become the foundation of her life.

This is National Reading Month, and I am thinking about how reading created a special bond between me and my children.

I always felt frustrated and guilty while my children were growing up because I didn’t have the money to take my children to Disney World. It turns out I gave them something much bigger than a trip to Disney World. They closed their eyes, and fell asleep with all of the magic that books c onj u red up