Or ... Title #2
How to Give an Entire World as a Present on a Shoe-string Budget
My 11-year-old son's Christmas list includes this item: Lobster (not for eating). My 8-year-old son wants a nerf gun. He knows I'm against guns so he pronounces it "NERF (gun)." My 13-year-old daughter wants nothing. She knows there's an economic crisis, and believes in cutting back instead of blind consumerism -- she's political. My one-year-old wants a vacuum cleaner.
None of them have asked for books, because they know that books are a given.
This year I'm getting books for every single person on my list.
Why?
Because in times that are this tough, I worry not about individual companies as much as I do entire industries. I want to look back on what I bought this year and see those items as a reflection of what I value in the world. I value books.
Now, as a writer, this might be seen as selfish. But if I weren't a writer, I'd still be a reader. I'd still want to handpick books for the people I love based on their interests, as a way of telling them that I've been listening. I'd still want to boost the imaginations of kids. I'd still want to give the gift of words, images, entire worlds.
How to give an entire world on a shoestring budget?
Books.
Join me.
Julianna Baggott is the author of fourteen books across three genres. Visit her at: http://www.juliannabaggott.com/ for an overview, http://www.theanybodies.com/ to get info on her books for kids, and http://www.bridgetasher.com/ for news on her latest book, MY HUSBAND'S SWEETHEARTS. To get a FREE COPY of her upcoming book for kids THE PRINCE OF FENWAY PARK, visit http://www.princeoffenwaypark.com/. And, if looking for an opportunity to get free books to underprivileged kids in the state of Florida, go to the nonprofit she co-founded: http://www.booksindeed.org/.
My 11-year-old son's Christmas list includes this item: Lobster (not for eating). My 8-year-old son wants a nerf gun. He knows I'm against guns so he pronounces it "NERF (gun)." My 13-year-old daughter wants nothing. She knows there's an economic crisis, and believes in cutting back instead of blind consumerism -- she's political. My one-year-old wants a vacuum cleaner.
None of them have asked for books, because they know that books are a given.
This year I'm getting books for every single person on my list.
Why?
Because in times that are this tough, I worry not about individual companies as much as I do entire industries. I want to look back on what I bought this year and see those items as a reflection of what I value in the world. I value books.
Now, as a writer, this might be seen as selfish. But if I weren't a writer, I'd still be a reader. I'd still want to handpick books for the people I love based on their interests, as a way of telling them that I've been listening. I'd still want to boost the imaginations of kids. I'd still want to give the gift of words, images, entire worlds.
How to give an entire world on a shoestring budget?
Books.
Join me.
Julianna Baggott is the author of fourteen books across three genres. Visit her at: http://www.juliannabaggott.com/ for an overview, http://www.theanybodies.com/ to get info on her books for kids, and http://www.bridgetasher.com/ for news on her latest book, MY HUSBAND'S SWEETHEARTS. To get a FREE COPY of her upcoming book for kids THE PRINCE OF FENWAY PARK, visit http://www.princeoffenwaypark.com/. And, if looking for an opportunity to get free books to underprivileged kids in the state of Florida, go to the nonprofit she co-founded: http://www.booksindeed.org/.
2 comments:
I am all about books as gifts for Christmas, for birthdays, just because, and just for me. Everyone knows a gift card to a book store is my favorite thing to receive. I can hardly bear to ever buy a paperback, because I SO love the feel of a hardback. *sigh* now if I could just get someone to build me some bookshelves.
I just bought a bunch of books last night - mostly as gifts, plus a couple of Christmasy ones for the family. At the top of my 10-year-old's wish list? The Nobodies. I have to order it, because I haven't been able to find it in stock anywhere...
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