Love you Forever

For weeks now I’ve been thinking about what to write in this space. Yesterday was Valentine’s Day and tomorrow is Family Day and so it is rather tempting to write about these holidays or about romantic love. However, today is its own day and special for another reason: February 15th is my younger brother’s birthday. Valentine’s has always been the day between my sister’s birthday (February 13th) and my brother’s, so it really paled in significance when compared with the dates it fell between. Now we have Family Day falling in close proximity to their birthdays and so while this column is all about love, it’s not about romantic love. Instead it’s about the love between siblings and a shared love of reading.

My brother Matt is the sibling I wanted. This is in no way to make my sister sound any less important, I love her dearly, but I was only two when she was born and five when my brother came along. I can remember my mother saying that it would be nice to have a third girl and me telling her that I wanted a brother. In fact if the baby wasn’t a boy, I wasn’t interested. Luckily, I got the brother I wanted although when he drove me crazy I wondered why I wanted him in the first place. I remember reading him his bedtime stories when my parents were busy and feeling so important because I could take care of this task.

As you may have guessed, reading was a big part of our lives growing up and we all had our favourite books. I read Matt, Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet Ahlberg so many times that I still have it memorized. Another book popular not just with our family, but pretty well everyone I know, is Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. I can’t think of a more popular book that celebrates the love of a parent for their child and vice versa. Love You Forever wasn’t our favourite book by Munsch: that honour belonged firmly to Jonathan Cleaned Up -- Then He Heard a Sound: or Blackberry Subway Jam. We always imagined the subway coming through our house! Reading these books together was a pure expression of love. The giving of time is a true indicator of love in our busy lives. I could have been playing outside or reading one of my “big girl” books, but instead I was reading with Matt.

We show our love by giving the time we have left after work, chores, school and everything else to those we deem worthy. We know we’re loved because no matter what, our family and friends find the time to be with us when we need them. Take some time this family day and share some stories, either from a book or your heart. Here are a few of our favourites (new and old):

Avocado Baby by John Burningham
Jazz Baby by Lisa Wheeler
Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems
Doctor De Soto by William Steig
Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Balloon Tree by Phoebe Gilman

I’ve listed picture books because they are wonderful to share with family members of all ages. However, there are many fabulous children’s chapter books that can be shared as a family. I used to read my brother and sister books by Roald Dahl and we’d often make up further adventures for his characters. My father made up stories for us when we were without a book and my grandmother regularly told us tales of her childhood. Enjoy your stories and make many more.

Ruth Hamlin-Douglas, Children's and Youth Services Librarian at the Brodie Resource
Library – www.tbpl.ca.