Wistfully, we think

Today, after a failed book-on-tape, I read the whole of Getting Near to Baby to mom as we drove up to Syracuse. Mom and I are watching niece and nephews while sister and brother-in-law journey west to consort in concert. The drive was delightful, apart from the fact that I forgot my sneakers, and had to wear Sunday shoes into the bathroom of the rest stop, and the aforementioned failed book-on-tape. I can't remember the name of the book, but if I did I'd warn you against it. Getting Near to Baby is possibly one of my favorite books, a 2000 Newbery award winner written by a delightful author that begins with a girl and Little Sister refusing to get down off of their aunt's roof. Besides the fact that it is written about a girl on a roof who went up to watch the sun rise and then decided to stay, the book is one of my favorites because the story unfolds brilliantly, beautifully, as she remembers all the events that brought her there ("she? " A time for the Chicago Manual of Style, I believe. "She" can't be right.) I would highly recommend it. There are just some books that are so beautiful, they make you want to cry. Chapters in the right places, open last-liners, simple and eloquently chosen words and sentence phrasing, kind and easy-to-relate-to characters, roof tops, and stories that seem webbed into one until you've suddenly finished and you don't know what you've learned but you've definitely learned something. Your heart seems more spread out, ready to engulf more people, softly stretched until it envelopes all the world. These are the kind of books that everyone should read, no matter their age, and then read again and again, and suddenly, as you've aged, you've learned something different, something sweeter and more poignant. And you understand better. Here's my list of those books (what's yours?): 1. Getting Near to Baby 2. The Little Prince 3. Grandma Torelli Makes Soup 4. Heartbeat 5. The Last Battle (from the Chronicles of Narnia) 6. Everything on a Waffle* 7. Walk Two Moons* 8. Icarus at the Edge of Time Yes? Yes. * presence on list is debatable