My 18-month-old loves books. She has since she was really young, preferring to toddle around with too-big-for-her books than any other toy. She often over-loves them and many a board book is in pieces because of her zealousness to flip pages (and chew!) Recently, her favorite is I Love You Daddy...she carries it with her everywhere she goes, and many pages have scotch-tape scars. We read it and reread it all day long, and she cries if you put it away--temper tantrum level despair. I really don't know why she likes it as much as she does...it's a sweet story, but nothing particularly amazing happens in it. A cub and its dad play, eat, and sleep. Perhaps it's the familiar routines that she likes? The repeating phrases? I sort of wish I could ask her.
But I get it. My all-time favorite book is a lesser known LM Montgomery novel called The Blue Castle. I wore out my copy and need to get a new one, because it's been a bit since my last reread. It's a simple story, about a girl who defies the expectations her overbearing mother puts on her, and finds lively, wonderful companions among the "less-thans" in her town. Again, I'm not sure why exactly it sparks my soul, but it does in every reading. Perhaps it was because I found it in high school, when I was dreaming of stretching my own wings? Or the way I related to the "otherness" of the main character? But I still love it today, partly because of the main character's fierce independence and bravery, and partly because of the way it reminds me of who I was once upon a time, and how far I have come.
The picture above, and my reflections on my own favorite book, inspired today's prompt.
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