I’m one of those who always rants about how early Christmas stuff shows up each year. So it may be somewhat hypocritical for me to join a new book blogger effort called Buy Books for the Holidays. But I think there’s excellent reasons for doing so.
First, it’s something I’ve been doing for many years. When it comes to giving someone a Christmas gift, I often lean toward a book or, if nothing else, a gift card or certificate to a book store. Conversely, I am usually the recipient of a couple books or gift cards each Christmas, whether from family or friends.
Second, Buy Books for the Holidays goes beyond family and friends. The project is also intended to introduce people to literacy charities and encourage donations to them. In fact, check out the first such post on that topic for some excellent ideas and an expression of many of my thoughts about what avid readers owe for the wonderful gift of reading others gave us.
There’s one other reason I don’t think it’s hypocritical. I advocate books as gifts (and donating to book-related charities) year-round. In fact, I am always in favor of giving a book store gift card for graduation gifts, birthday presents for kids or any other gift-giving occasion. This effort just takes a period when our nation truly becomes the “United States of Buy” and tries to focus at least a bit of that on literacy and reading.
So, the Buy Books for the Holidays blog has been added to the blogroll, along with an icon or badge in the right sidebar. The bottom line, though, is simple and straightforward: BUY BOOKS!
No man has a right to bring up his children without surrounding them with books, if he has the means to buy them. It is a wrong to his family. Children learn to read by being in the presence of books. The love of knowledge comes with reading and grows upon it.
Henry Ward Beecher, “The Duty of Owning Books“
