Amy

I'm Amy.  I'm the one married to Carrie and Sarah's brother, Joshua.  They don't hold that against me though, and hopefully you won't either. And even though Chanin is not one of Joshua's sisters (she is assuredly thrilled about that!), I don't remember a time when I didn't know Chanin.  However, I do remember her having WAY to much fun at my wedding.  But I digress....

As far as books go, my earliest memories are of my mom reading me a chapter of The Boxcar Children series (in order, thank you very much) each night before bed.  We followed with the Little House series and that pretty much sealed the deal, reading wise.  I was hooked. 

My teen years were filled with horrible things like The Red Badge of Courage (freshman year English was SO boring) and a Tale of Two Cities (sophomore year didn't get any better).  But they were also wonderful (I'm talking about YOU, A Prayer for Owen Meany and A Separate Peace).  My best friend Jenny, was a reading-for-fun superstar and she would frequently shove books in my face and then pester me until I read them loan me books to read.  I guess I owe her for my continued love of the written word, too.

My children were born in 2002 and 2006 and reading to them was a natural as changing a diaper in the dark after a 2am feeding.  I willingly admit I would read to them as toddler to get out of playing "house" or any other sort of make-believe games.  I don't do make-believe very well.  It has been fun to reread some of my favorites to them and to watch them find their reading niche.  So far we have one Harry Potter fan and one Nate the Great fan.  I think that is a good start.