It has been a great week for cute kids, and cute kid stories, in and around the bookstore. Last week was vacation so now I think we’re on the regular schedule of children who are too young to attend school. These little moppets are all about reading and having fun.
The first story centers on humor. A lovely mom came in with her bright-eyed, ready to smile four-year-old. After less than a minute in the store, they were ensconced on the floor surrounded by books. The boy sat close to his mom’s lap and they read stories. They were there for some time when I heard the laughter. Peals and peals of laughter emanating from the boy. Honestly, I have never heard a child laugh that hard at anything in my store. He just couldn’t stop. The more the mom read, the more he laughed and the more the mom was trying not to laugh as she read, which of course led to more laughter.
On Tuesday, two identical twin girls came in. They were almost three and they were very friendly. They
came right to the counter, and with the help of their au pair, asked if we had any Fancy Nancy. I brought them over to where it was and gave each girl a book. They did not want the books for themselves. We have two stuffed animal dragons in the picture book area along with two child-sized chairs. These twins got a dragon, put it in a chair, and started reading to him. They took turns “reading” to the dragon. One of the girls made sure to hold the book the right way and the other very loudly let her know when it was time to turn the page. They read for several minutes and as they left they patted the dragon’s head and said bye-bye.These two incidents remind me why I do this. All three children had a great experience with a book in my store. I suspect these kids might have good experiences with books a lot; they seem like the kind of kids who already deeply love books, and it was a pleasure to be part of it.
Josie, your story also made my week. Thanks for sharing. The images are precious and remind us of the many ways we define success.