A Book Lover's Confession

I have a confession to make. I am a book hoarder. I love books. I cannot help it. I am pretty sure it was bred into me and it is part of my genetic makeup. It is also one of the things my husband hates. If it was up to him we would get rid of every book as soon as we have read it once. It's not the way I roll. I keep my books. I read them over and over. Some of them are like childhood friends, reading them is like going home again.

We have 6 overflowing bookcases. I have gotten rid of some books over the years. Only because I was forced to. We move, more often than I would like, and books are heavy. I have purged a few here and there, but we still have tons of books.

My husband doesn't realize yet, but Little Bear is a book hoarder like his mama. He has two bookshelves in his room that are full of books. We have passed some on to his cousins and friends over the last couple of years, but he hates to give up books. He loves to read and he has a lot of interests and a high reading level for his age.

Recently I surprised Little Bear by taking him to one of my special places. Our local used book store. I usually go while he is at school so I can browse. Our local book store, they call it a book mine, it is HUGE (and yes it is truly so big that HUGE does need to be capitalized)! When I go during the school day I have to set an alarm on my phone to remind me to leave in time to pick up Little Bear from the bus stop. I have accidentally missed lunch on days I went there because I forgot to leave time for food between browsing and driving home. So, anyway, I took Little Bear to the book mine. On the way I told him about it and he had no idea what to expect. When we walked in his eyes lit up and his smile was huge. The kids books are all the way in the back corner of the labyrinth like store. So, we headed back there, weaving in and out through shelves and stacks of books. We finally made it back to the children's section and Little Bear was overjoyed.

He wanted everything. We started with the classics, with The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, from there we moved to biographies and found Lewis and Clark. Next we were on to non-fiction where we discovered Pandas, Everything Reptile, and Pet Bugs A Kid's Guide to Catching & Keeping Touchable Insects. His father is going to hate that one. He is not a fan of insects, especially catching and keeping them. We then found my favorite section of kid's books, fairytales, myths, and legends. I don't know why, but I have always loved these stories. This is where we got some great books to read together. We brought home beautifully illustrated classic myths and legends with rich text that is not too watered down. We ended up deciding on three, The Iliad and the Odyssey, The Legend of King Arthur, and The Saga of Erik the Viking. Last we ended up picking up two fun books, a Dr. Seuss classic, There's a Wocket in My Pocket, and a book about Little Bear's new obsession, Minecraft.

As we were paying the cashier told Little Bear that he could bring the books back and trade them in for new books when he was done reading them. He looked at the woman like she was nuts and sadly asks, "I have to bring them back?" I laughed as he looks at me and says, "Mom I thought this was a store not the library?" We explained that you can bring your used books back and sell them for credit to buy more books. He responds with "No way. These books are mine now. I'm keeping them."

Although, much like normal, I went in planning to buy three books and came home with nine. In my humble opinion, I am training Little Bear right. He is part of the book lover clan and well on his way to being a book hoarder. Poor Papa Bear may be dismayed when he realizes how many books we bought in one trip to the bookstore and he may ban us from going again without supervision, but we will stay true to our book hoarding roots.