Books make great Christmas presents. I know because I read them, and others do to. I grew up happy in the library.  My sisters and I would walk the few blocks to the old Carnegie library in Enid during the summer and load up with as many books as our arms could hold (or the library would let us check out at one time). There was just something about the smell of ink on paper and the book in my hand that made me happy.  I was transported to another world.

When my kids were born, I read bedtime stories to them and we curled up with books together on the couch.  They especially liked fantasy.  I remember when they received their Weekly Reader order form we’d pour over it and buy as many as I could afford.  Even before they could read all of them by themselves, I would read the story to them.  My son had a favorite he memorized before he was old enough to read and he would “read it to us” at bedtime.  Somewhere I still have a recording of that on an old cassette tape.  It is a treasure I wouldn’t trade for the world.

My daughter loved the Bunnicula books and would buy them at school and I’d read them to the kids as I fixed dinner because they were so excited they couldn’t wait until bed time.

The first book I wrote debuted in a hotel room with my grandson.  We took him and our daughter to the Grand Canyon and I made sure the manuscript was finished and printed.  I placed it in a three-ring binder and read a chapter or two to him each night making sure we were done before the trip was over.  I may have loved that more than he did.

This year when you are starting your Christmas shopping be sure to include books for your loved ones.  They are a treasure for the giver and receiver.  They are a gift that you can share and create memories.  And if you love it, be sure to leave the author a review.