THE GREATEST GIFT – I firmly believe that the greatest gift
you can pass on to your children is the love of reading. Not money, not athletic prowess, not even the
secret to studying and getting good grades.
If I could identify the single most important gift I pass on to my kids
it is the love of books and the love of reading. My mother, a public school teacher for over
30 years, passed that on to me. Along
with my grandmother, who had a Doctorate in Education, one of the first females
in the nation to get an EdD. My mother
always said, when my kids were little, “you have to bathe your children in
words.” Mrs. O’Neill, our pre-K teacher
at BDMS, and a former professor of children’s literature at the Mount, always
used the famous quote, “I was rich indeed, for I had a parent who read to me.” I had once read that if you rubbed your belly
while pregnant and asked for two things, that’s what you would get, so with
both kids I rubbed my belly and said over and over “Baby Loves to Read, Baby
Loves to Swim.” We have tens of thousands
of books in our home, from poetry and rare and antique books to Dr. Seuss. I have read to my kids every night as long as
the oldest let me I still read picture books to Michael at night. Michael and I sit and read in our Reading
Chair every day.
Imagine my utter
horror when I realized one day that Christian had stopped reading. Don’t get me wrong, he reads his novels for
school and his textbooks, and he’s on the high honor roll. But he had simply stopped reading non-school
books. True, he was busy with school,
athletics, and friends, but everybody has time for a book. When I realized he wasn’t reading, my blood
literally froze. There could be no
greater failure in my life. I’d rather
have him stop doing sports than stop reading, I was horrified.
So I
prayed. And I asked my mom for
suggestions. “Well, I’m sure they
already had him read Salinger in school, how did that strike him?” And then it hit me. He goes to Catholic School, they are never
going to assign “Catcher in the Rye,” the book by J.D. Salinger that changed my
life and the lives of so many before and after me. Brilliant, Lola, I said! That’s it, I will get him “Catcher in the
Rye.” That was 6 months ago. In the meantime, Michael polished off the
entire Percy Jackson series, my husband probably read 30 novels and I read
about 10 novels along with the newest biographies of Winston Churchill as well
as Alexander the Great. We are all
voracious readers. But that darn copy of
“Catcher in the Rye,” which has sold over 65 million copies since it came out
in 1951 and continues to sell 250,000 copies a year, just sat on the coffee
table. Staring back at me. Mocking me.
I could almost hear Holden Caufield, the main character, saying, “well,
who’s the phony now?” The thing is, I
knew Christian would love this novel, he is so Holden. I have read everything by Salinger, every
short story, Frannie and Zooey, the Glass stories, you name it, several times
over.
I love to
read and I love to research the authors.
Especially American literature. I
had my law school graduation at the same table at the Alongquin Hotel where
Dorothy Parker, James Thurber, Edna Ferber and Donald Ogden Stewart, among
other great writers used to gather to form the “Vicious Circle” of writers and
journalists from 1919 – 1929. Many of my
NYU professors begged me to pursue writing “or at least journalism.” Maybe in my retirement. In the meantime, I write my blog and -- isn’t
everyone working on the great unfinished American novel?
Then the
documentary “Salinger” came out, in honor of his 105th birthday,
which was January 1, 2014. I have
watched it several times. I thought I
knew everything about Salinger. Some
things were well known, some things were new.
Some things I wish I hadn’t learned.
That was it, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I became like a madwoman. I marched into my son’s room, where he was
talking on the phone and I started shaking “Catcher” at him: “Jerry Salinger stormed the beaches of
Normandy carrying the pages of this book!
He liberated the Nazi concentration camps carrying the pages of this
book! This isn’t just a book, this is
THE coming of age book, and if you do not read it right now I will have FAILED
as a mother. Do you understand me? I don’t care if you ever row again, I don’t
care if you ever catch a football again, I don’t even care about the Honor
Roll! If you do not at least read one
chapter in this book, I will have failed!”
Ok, that was a little dramatic but what can I say. What did my son do? “Um, I’m on the phone, Mom, can you calm
down?” That’s it, I’m done, I said to
myself. The world needs ditch diggers too.
Christian is
not a cruel child. He could see his
mother was distressed. Out of sheer pity
for me, he began reading the book. Then
something magical happened. He started
getting into it. In fact, he spent all
day reading it. He stayed up until 3am
reading it. However, he wouldn’t finish
reading it right away, because he loved it so much, he couldn’t bear for it to
end. All readers know that feeling.
And so it
was that I went out to Barnes and Noble in a blizzard to buy “Frannie and
Zooey,” the next book by Salinger, so there would be something to look forward
to. Finally, my oldest son is a reader
again. He’s back. More than any crew victory, or football
victory, or even making Principal’s List, THIS was my greatest victory to date
as a mother. Baby loves to read!
Keep reading
everyone, and keep fighting for your kids.
Above all, remember to count your
blessings! Have a great Saturday,
everyone! <3 Mrs. Lo
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