The Astonishing Power of Books

In-the-Moment Blogging: The Astonishing Power of Books

*In-the-Moment Blog posts are written during my morning coffee and are not planned or organized. They are clearly off-the-cuff and in-the-moment.*

Last night, I curled up with my DS to read. This is our nightly routine, but this night was different.

We read All The Way to America by Dan Yaccarino. While he was actually wide awake, I was quite tired and could not keep up with the family tree. Deciding to showcase his genealogical skills, he swiftly pulled out the dry-erase board.

Dan Yaccarino’s great-grandfather arrived at Ellis Island with a small shovel and his parents’ good advice: “Work hard, but remember to enjoy life, and never forget your family.” With simple text and warm, colorful illustrations, Yaccarino recounts how the little shovel was passed down through four generations of this Italian-American family—along with the good advice.
It’s a story that will have kids asking their parents and grandparents: Where did we come from? How did our family make the journey all the way to America?

Who can say that books designed for younger readers cannot inspire older readers? Sure the book was simple, but combined with his inquisitive (more like...'Mom, let's take this deeper. ummm... I don't know where he gets this!) mind, the basic content allowed him to dig deeper, then soar above my tired brain.

Well, with this young man all fired up, he pulled a book I had never seen - Molly Bannaky by Alice McGill.

A moving story of one woman's amazing bravery and determination follows Molly Walsh who, at the age of seventeen, was exiled from her country and sentenced to work as an indentured servant in British Colonial America, where she earned her freedom, married an African slave name Bannaky, and turned a one-room cabin into a prosperous farm.

This woke me up.

I love reading about the Black experience. This took me to a different place. Oddly, I had never heard of a free white woman, after purchasing an African slave, marrying that same slave. But, that is not what struck me. Molly escaped punishment for spilling milk because she knew how to read the Bible.

Reading REALLY DOES SAVE LIVES!!!! (Well...it can also lead to death, but that's just a corollary argument I am not ready to dive into.)

After he went to bed, I began to ponder about how books and characters really helped me deal with some life-altering situations.

Books are and have always been the balm for my weary soul. No, I did not (and still do not) make friends with these imaginary people. But, I have always seen stories as fables. Sure, I read to learn and, most recently, to disappear from the Edna (see the post here) and her crew. But, books to me are indeed fables. There is a lesson in each of the stories I read and they have often provided much needed insight.

Weariness and despair thrive in solitary confinement, leaving its victim too weak to reach out and just talk.

That is were books come in. Serving as a cool, spring breeze on a warm day, the characters and their antics can take you away. Think about flying with Mary Poppins...From that vantage point, you can begin to see the world and maybe (just maybe) see a new way to handle what is causing you pain. You may realize it is time to talk about it, agree that medication is the best treatment, or that things really aren't as bad as you thought. Neither of the aforementioned realizations are bad, as they each have their place.

Reading these books with my DS showed me that reading aloud is still okay! Sure, he reads on his own, but there is something about reading the words aloud that makes the story come alive.

What did you read yesterday? Please share your insights.