Reading is Fundamental!

I have been reading chidren's books the last couple weeks.  Not just any children's books - old children's books.  I am not talking about the picture books I read to Bella and Elias, but chapter books that are geared for 4th and 5th graders - and, yes, I am reading them to myself and for myself.  I don't know how it started or which one I read first. I think that seeing the movie poster for "Ramona and Beezus" when I was in the theater seeing "Toy Story 3" may have triggered it, but I can't be sure.  Reading these books are quick & easy reads, innocent, and have enjoyable characters.  But they also take me back to my childhood.  I read so much as a child.  I would spend many days with my nose in a book from morning until night, often not even taking the time to turn on a light when dusk came.  I often was told that I was going to go blind from reading in the dark.  I even remember pouring cereal or a drink while still attempting to read - often to my mother's aggravation!  When Josh and I were in Flatwoods over the weekend, I picked up "The Boxcar Children" off of a $1 rack at the book outlet. Now, "The Boxcar Children" was my favorite series when I was in elementary school.  I even remember where they were kept in my elementary school library.  I read the book in a day and wondered if I had cared about the minor loopholes in the story when I was a kid.  But the characters were still as enjoyable and their adventure just as exciting, and I can't wait until my kids are old enough to read it themselves.
I went to see "Ramona and Beezus" Sunday.  And it was the most heartwarming and wholesome movie I have seen in a LONG time.  I think it stayed in the spirit of the books, though parts of the plot were elaborated and updated to make a movie out of the short stories for our day and age. I have kept some of my books from when I was a child.  I just kept my favorites and "Ramona the Pest" and "Beezus and Ramona" are two of them.  I got "Ramona the Pest" in the R.I.F. (Reading is Fundamental) program, that provided each child with one free book at every book fair.  I read that book so many times!  I never had very many new books when I was a kid, so I always savored them when I got one.  And I think I thought Ramona (in her own bratty way) was a hero. "Beezus and Ramona" came from a library sale or a yard sale, I can't remember which.  I went down and pulled them out of the tote in the basement. The pages are yellow and the covers are tattered, but I get a little excited just looking at them.  I think they might be the next on my reading list!  (If you'd like to borrow them, just let me know! I am sure you are all envious!)