We all complain about Facebook — either as a time drain or a chronicle of the overly quotidian — but I must admit, it can lead to interesting places. Just this week I learned about a Kickstarter campaign by a gardening environmentalist that looks fabulous, and followed someone’s link on that site to a great design and architecture blog called freshome.com to look at photos of a rocking chair built to power an iPad (over-the-shoulder speakers included), which in turn led me to today’s blog post featured item: a gorgeous storytime rocking chair that seats one big person and two or three little ones.

Designed by Hal Taylor, a Virginia woodworker specializing in custom rocking chairs, this one was built to accommodate his growing family. As his website says: “When our third child, Rose, was born, she was certain she wanted to be part of the ‘reading crowd’ at about nine months old. Well, I did not have a lap large enough for three children so I had to come up with something! This, my StoryTime Rocking Chair, is what I came up with. A ‘four passenger’ rocking chair.”

I love how the two side seats are built up high to allow littler folks to perch at perfect book-sharing height. I also love what Mr. Taylor says about reading at the top of the web page dedicated to this chair: “It is my sincere belief that one of the most important things you can do for your children is to read to them. I read to my children from the time they could listen to a story until they could read better than I could. We read everything, C.S. Lewis, Mark Twain, Uncle Remus, J.R.R. Tolkien and my personal favorite, ‘Snoozeroo.’ I read to them until they were asleep every night.”
This is such a thoughtful, charming piece of furniture. It looks glossy, smooth, comfortable, and beautifully made, the kind of chair passed down through generations. It is a chair for very lucky households, or a memorable fixture that would make innumerable bookstore and library patrons beam with delight. Hint. Hint.
So Santa, if you’re listening, one of these for Christmas?
P.S. I was curious about his favorite book. It looks to be a 1968 title called Snoozeroo, the Sandman’s Helper, by Eileen Daly, illustrated by Leslie Gray. It looks very cute, and with that title, I can imagine why it would appeal to a busy dad with three young children!