A few nights ago, we took just a few minutes to make a fun memory. It was a mild night--not too cold. We could see the moon clearly in the sky. So, just before bedtime, I grabbed our library copy of Own Moon--the Jane Yolen book about a dad taking his child to search for owls on a cold, wintry night. Meg found her kid's lantern. I brought out our "in case the lights go out" lantern and we headed outside and sat on the grassy hillside. In the slight cold, we read Owl Moon by lantern light.
The girls quickly remembered the last time they had done this. Last spring, after a night of making s'mores around the firepit at my sister's house, they had made a makeshift tent to pretend they were camping. That night it was my sister who pulled out the lantern and her copy of Owl Moon and read to them by their tent.
Both nights the girls were giddy in their excitement. Something about a book world and the real world colliding makes things extra special. When I was in fifth or sixth grade, I was reading a book about a boy who magically travelled back to Plymouth at the time of the pilgrims. We happened to vacationing near Plymouth, so my parents made the drive there for the day simply because I was reading the book and wanted to go. We visited the strikingly small Plymouth rock as well as the Mayflower II (which was much more exciting). We walked through an old cemetery and I felt the book I was reading come to life.
My favorite movie ever is "You've Got Mail." At one point Kathleen says, "So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around." I don't really care if it should be the other way around. I just love when the worlds collide. Even better, I love when the worlds collide and create a new tradition. I don't think this will be the last time the girls read Owl Moon under the real moon. In fact, I wonder if one day one of them will read it to their daughters on a cold, wintry night.
The girls quickly remembered the last time they had done this. Last spring, after a night of making s'mores around the firepit at my sister's house, they had made a makeshift tent to pretend they were camping. That night it was my sister who pulled out the lantern and her copy of Owl Moon and read to them by their tent.
Both nights the girls were giddy in their excitement. Something about a book world and the real world colliding makes things extra special. When I was in fifth or sixth grade, I was reading a book about a boy who magically travelled back to Plymouth at the time of the pilgrims. We happened to vacationing near Plymouth, so my parents made the drive there for the day simply because I was reading the book and wanted to go. We visited the strikingly small Plymouth rock as well as the Mayflower II (which was much more exciting). We walked through an old cemetery and I felt the book I was reading come to life.
My favorite movie ever is "You've Got Mail." At one point Kathleen says, "So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around." I don't really care if it should be the other way around. I just love when the worlds collide. Even better, I love when the worlds collide and create a new tradition. I don't think this will be the last time the girls read Owl Moon under the real moon. In fact, I wonder if one day one of them will read it to their daughters on a cold, wintry night.
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