Required Reading

I have a ton of reading to get caught-up on. My nightstand is piled high with books and magazines. In no particular order:

1. The May issues of Southern Living, Family Fun, Simple Scrapbooks and Creating Keepsakes
2. The April issues of the above (well, Simple Scrapbooks is the March/April issue)
   
3. The March issues of the above
4. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
5. Mine are Spectacular by Lynn Schnurnberger and Janice Kaplan
6. The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown, Special Illustrated Edition
7. Lies Women Believe: And the Truth that Sets Them Free by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

You'd think after attending church with Nancy Leigh DeMoss for several years - at least when she's in my city to record her radio show (she calls Michigan home) - I'd have read her books. I've only read part of one - and it is in the basket *beside* my nightstand...we won't even get into the books and magazines in that basket - ones I've started and not finished yet. I started reading Nancy's book A Place of Quiet Rest when I was pregnant with Elizabeth. Since becoming a mother, my typical reading consists of things like:

1. Goodnight, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
2. You Are My I Love You by Maryann Cusimano
3. Ten Tiny Fairies from the creators of Ten Little Ladybugs Apparently this book didn't have an author? What's up with that???? Anyway, our version of this book has the "light up" fairies in the back - ooooh, do the girls love that?!
   
4. Good Night, Sweet Butterflies: A Color Dreamland by Dawn Bentley; Heather Cahoon (Illustrator) I could recite this one in my sleep and frequently give it as a birthday gift to our girls' friends.
5. Mommy Hugs and Daddy Kisses by Anne Gutman, Georg Hallensleben I bought these books for Elizabeth for her first Easter. Over three years later, we still love them.

Things I can't wait to share with my girls:

1. All-of-a-Kind Family, More All-of-a-Kind Family, All-of-a-Kind Family Uptown, All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown, Ella of All-of-a-Kind Family - all by Sydney Taylor. Sweet books about a Jewish family living in Brooklyn in the 1930s.
   
2. Fifteen by Beverly Cleary Ah, a sweet "coming of age" book with none of the crassness of today's "coming of age" stories.
   
3. The Pink Maple House by Christine Noble Govan. And yeah, if you click on that link to Amazon you read the price correctly - $199.50. This book has been out of print since I was a child. My aunt worked in the juvenile literature department of the public library when she was in high school. When the children's librarian was culling through books she was going to get rid of, she pulled The Pink Maple House. My aunt had always loved the book so she asked if she could give it to me - the librarian agreed. I've had it since I was nine years old and I love it still. Such a sweet, innocent book.