I Think I've Created a Reader! (yay!)

 I don't have children of my own, but I have 4 nieces and a nephew whom I adore and frankly spoil rotten (being the auntie is so much more fun in my opinion).  Since they've been born, I've always made a point to give them books, and since I don't live near them, when I visit I always make a point (or they ask me) to read them stories.  One of my favorite memories with my oldest niece, Madyson, was when she was three and I was reading her a Dora the Explorer story for the umpteenth time and she said "You're a very good reader auntie". *sniff*

  Well, Mady is now nine years old and she can read on her own, and she does it avidly.  She's a chip off ol' Auntie's block - reading in bed long into the night, looking forward to trips to the library and to bookstores (when they were coming to visit me a few summers ago she asked her mom if she thought Auntie Sue might want to go to the bookstore with her - *sniff*).  And now that she has an e-mail account through school (yeah, she's NINE) we can talk about what she's reading and what I read when I was her age;  she's reading a Judy Blume book right now - Double Fudge - that I don't remember ever seeing (I had Superfudge?)

   Mady is a lovely, smart young girl (I'm biased, I know) and she has a wide range of interests and activities other than reading; but it warms my heart to be able to share this with her and feel that I may have had a little part of generating her love of reading.