My mother is always right when it comes to books...

I have a daughter, seven years old (eight in just a couple more months here), and she's an awesome reader.

Problem is, I can rarely get her to finish books. She loves Junie B. Jones and Magic Treehouse and A to Z Mysteries and such, but she skims and jumps around and reads whatever looks interesting at the moment. She will read a book from start to finish, but I have to sit her down and make sure she does it.

I've been working on her with this and I keep telling her, "It's more fun to start a book and read all the way to the end."

Lately she's become obsessed with Harry Potter. I read her the first book, and then she picked up the second and read it all by herself.

But the magic happened in the third book.

When she started it, I just looked at her and grinned. "That is one of my favorites," I told her, "and the ending is AMAZING!!!"

And she loved it. When she read the last few chapters, she interrupted every couple pages to tell me something she'd just read.

"MOM! Ron's rat is... is... is a WIZARD. He's been in disguise this whole time!!!"

"Mom!!! Hermione can go back in time!"

"MOM!!!"

And so it went.

I've got her. She's totally hooked.

I'm so proud. :D

And I told her when she was finished, "Your mother is always right when it comes to books. Trust me."


It made me laugh because I remembered that my mom said the exact same thing to me years ago. She's an elementary school teacher and always read to us and filled our home with amazing books. We lived at the library during the summer (that would be the Orem Public Library in Utah - I miss it!) and I was a book devourer. And I read a lot of amazing books, but also a bunch of not-so-amazing books (like every single goosebumps). But one summer I learned to always trust my mom's recommendations.

We were in Venezuela, spending the summer with Italian relatives (don't ask; it's complicated) and I was so bored. I'd read all the books I'd brought and my mom kept telling me to try some of the books she'd brought for me, promising I'd love them. I was skeptical. But I was desperate. She gave me The Witch of Blackbird Pond.

And I have never gone back. :D

And I know that if my mom recommends a book, it will be perfect and I will love it! Thanks mom. I'm glad we can be book-obsessed together.


Do you have someone whose book recommendations you trust absolutely?