"Grow a Reader on Your Lap"

The first book I read ― before I could read ― was a book that has long since been out of print. It was “Dolly and Molly by the Seashore.” I read the book over and over and over. While sitting on Mother’s lap as long as she would read it, I listened, listened, listened… to correct Mother if she missed a word.

But we soon moved on to library books. Mother took my sister and me every week to the public library for Story Hour, and to pick out our own books. My first Christmas gift book was a big thick copy of Mother Goose nursery rhymes, which, lying on the floor on my stomach, I literally devoured it to pieces. 

Later, I read all the biographies of famous people that I could lay my hands on, and many children’s classics. That was just before poetry caught up with me in eighth grade. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow became my hero through: Oh Captain, My Captain; When Day is Done; and my love of loves, Evangeline, still one of the greatest, saddest love stories known to me. 

William Shakespeare was introduced to me in high school by a teacher who had little patience for my spirited personality, but who was an excellent teacher. Macbeth’s “out damn spot” became the cornerstone of my love for Shakespeare, and the key to venture fourth seeking other interesting poets. One favorite is Robert Service, the Canadian poet, journalist and novelist, whose famous works are best depicted in The Spell of the Yukon, and the Cremation of Sam McGee. 

Great novels are the playing field of the mind. Just a few of mention that are worth your read, but of which I’d bet you have already read, are: “Gone With the Wind” by Margaret Mittchell; “Centennial” by James A. Michener; “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway and “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck; “Two Old Women” ― a great Alaskan legend of betrayal, courage and survival, by Velma Wallis; “The Red Tent,” by Anita Diament; Sacajawea by Anna Lee Waldo; and a Dublin saga, “The Princes of Ireland” by Edward Rutherfurd.  

I could go on and on, and so could you, but I have a book for you to add to your pleasure: “A Trip to the Stars” by Nicholas Christopher is a book to savor! It’s a mesmerizing “trip” being taken by three people: Ten-year-old Enzo was kidnapped right out of his young aunt Mala’s grasp. The third person, Geza Cassiel, is the ultimate force that springs the dramatic conclusion to life. 

This classic and romantic tale is one of profound creativity as the charismatic characters are splashed across continents and seas on their separate journeys. As they travel they meet a variable array of people ― an asteroid specialist, a professional mind reader, a maverick NASA astronomer, and countless others who stimulate our reading world with mystery, adventure and fantasy. 

Christopher’s characters are in constant motion. The novel is brisk and lively, magical and hypnotic. It has multiple descriptions of art, jewelry and architectural detail, frequent visits into the constellations, and distinct scholarly elements involving scientific, mythical and philosophic regimens. “A Trip to the Stars” provides us a refreshing, masterful bridge, so to speak, between the fanciful and the factional. 

If you know a child that you would like to teach the joys and the pleasures of a good read, pick him or her up on your lap and read, read, read….