We are 3/4 of the way through Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The kids love this book. As I was browsing Goodreads yesterday in order to find our next read-together book, I started rating other children’s books that we have read. I then realized that if I sat down and rated them all, well, it would take a very long time. It got me estimating exactly how many books my children and I have read together. So let’s see…

We have gone to the library weekly since Nate was a little younger than 18 months old. We’ve missed about 5 weeks out of each year for holidays, vacations, etc. We check out approximately 15 books each time. Approximately 15% of these are repeats of favorites. So how many children’s books have we read?

          =313 weeks (6 yrs)
           -30 (missed 5 wks p/yr)
          =283 weeks
           x15 books
          -637 (.15 repeats)
——————————————
          3,609 books

This doesn’t account for books we have re-read(!), bought, or have read while in the library or book store which would make the number quite a bit higher. That’s pretty cool!
I thought I’d share some of my kids’ current favorites and then some all time favorites. I KNOW I won’t be able to remember very many of these thirty-five hundred books,but I will do my best.

Nathan:
Anything non-fiction. Books about cars (Bugatti, Lotus) and animals (Arachnids, Snakes).

Madeleine:
Annie and Snowball series, anything with a female lead.

Caroline:
Anything Ariel or with a kitty cat. 

Some of our all-time favorites that my kids will read over and over again (that I can think of quickly off the top of my head but I know I’m missing some). As I put this list together I realized that they are all gender neutral, which is interesting.

The Elephant & Piggie series by Mo Willems.  I like these just as much as the kids. I think there are currently 13 books in this series, more to come.

Any book by Leslie Patricelli

Fast & Fun Paper Planes by Paul Jackson

I know there are so many more but I’ll stop there.

Yes, we have paid overdue fines, maybe fifty dollars worth. Since we go every week they are rarely late. We have lost and damaged a few books, probably to the tune of twenty-five bucks. But even then, $75 for 6 yrs of weekly entertainment and a lifetime love. There is no other sport or lesson that comes even close to that economic and emotional and mental value (especially since Rob and I participate with them). As just a small example, 4 years ago we checked out the paper airplane book and it got water damaged so we had to buy it. Rob and Nate were tickled. It started their love of making and flying all sorts of paper planes. They have two other paper plane books now and to this day Nate folds at least a few a day. He teaches others how to fold them, he sells them, he flies them everywhere and really is practically an expert in aerodynamics for his age.

My kids and I have absolutely loved our weekly trek to the library with our overfull bag that I can barely lift off the ground. They never tire of reading individually and together. I’ll be sad when, in just a few more years, they are too old for me to read to them. It’s always been our thing. It’s been one of our biggest bonding experiences. I hope they always continue to read to themselves and, of course, someday to their own children.