Catherine Urdahl and Her Reading Team
December 2020

Find­ing con­nec­tion in a book is mag­i­cal. Anoth­er of Juni’s favorites is The Sand­cas­tle that Lola Built (by Megan Maynor, illus­trat­ed by Kate Berube). When­ev­er we read it at my house, Wis­con­si­nite Juni waits for the entry of the char­ac­ter “Min­neso­ta Girl,” then stabs her lit­tle fin­ger into the air and shouts, “This is Min­neso­ta!” Then we laugh.

On warm days, when we build sand­cas­tles on the beach, Juni remem­bers the book and asks for sea glass to sig­nal the mer­maids, just like Lola. (Sea glass is hard to find at a small Min­neso­ta lake.)

Of course, our favorite book changes, depend­ing on the day. Late­ly, Wild Baby (by Cori Doer­rfeld) is at the top of the pile. We notice the mama’s expres­sions as her baby runs off. Is she hap­py? Or angry? Why? We love hear­ing the play­ful, poet­ic text and track­ing the impend­ing dan­ger in the vivid illus­tra­tions. When the branch breaks, sav­ing the baby mon­key, we yell SNAP! And then there’s the cud­dle moment at the end. Is the mama hap­py? Yes!

I love see­ing books became such a big part of Juni’s life. I love how she gath­ers a pile of books and insists “I’M READING NOW!” when it’s time for din­ner, bed, a bath­room break, etc. (Per­haps the grand­par­ent per­spec­tive dif­fers a bit from the parent’s.)

A few weeks ago, I saw the sweet­est book moment EVER — Juni read­ing to her baby broth­er, tak­ing his tiny hand and help­ing him turn a page.

Already, she’s shar­ing the book-love.