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I knew they were somewhere.  After all, I had a special place for them on my bookshelf before we packed up everything during the remodel. And I wanted to take some pictures of them for the upcoming post on YLCF.  But could I find them anywhere?  No, my books about books were missing.  Positively not on any shelf anywhere.

I spent a very long time in the shed digging through all the boxes of books.  Twice.  To no avail.  I found the box they would have been if they’d been in a box.  But I really didn’t think I’d have left them in a box once we unpacked part of our books.

It wasn’t until my mother’s helper was over and I was taking advantage of her help with the girls to actually dust my house that I found them: buried under layers of dust, behind all the other books on writing, beside the typewriter atop my filing cabinet.  My books about books.

They were well-photographed and fingered and browsed through, as I thought that I really should reference them more often—particularly before book sales and the like! 

One was a gift from a friend.  Others were passed on from my mom.  I think at least one was a find at a thrift store or book sale.  But there they are, my books about books—there when I’m ready for them, there when I run out of books on my to-find list, there when my children are wanting to check out even more books from the library.  And they still have their own special place on my bookshelves—I just have to remember what place that is!

A few weeks later I was visiting my maternal grandparents.  Grandma was a Christian school librarian, and from the moment you walk in the door, their home bears testimony to the fact that you are among book lovers. 

I hadn’t even thought to ask Grandma for some books about books.  But there they were, in their own special spot on her bookshelves: older versions of some of the books I had, and other titles I’d never even heard of before.  One that especially intrigued me was a 1946 hardback by Anne Thaxter called Treasure for the Taking: A Book List for Boys and Girls.  Apparently books about books are nothing new, but I think it might be fun one of these days to explore in more detail what they recommended in the 1940’s!

Grandma caught me taking pictures of her books about books and offered that I could borrow any I liked.  “That’s okay,” I explained, “I just wanted some pictures of them to illustrate my posts—I already have plenty of books about books to reference if I ever take the time!” 

And I’m glad I took those pictures.  Because as I sit here and look at them, I realize how much these books in my grandmother’s library, un-read though they might have been, have had an influence on me.  How to Grow a Young Reader, How to Raise a Reader, How to Hook Your Kids on Books.  My grandparents raised readers in my mom and my uncle, and they in turn raised 8 cousins who read voraciously. 

But the titles that most typify my grandparents?  They are the ones below.  My grandma has A Passion for Books.  My wise papa knows all about Reading Between the Lines in Great Books of the Christian Tradition.  And between the two of them, they’ve exemplified to their children and grandchildren the truth that: “you are the same today as you’ll be in five years except for two things, the people you meet and…The Books You Read.”

That’s why books about books can be so important: they give you a guide to the Treasure for the Taking, they direct you to the best of the Honey for a Child’s Heart.  And so I’ll keep on collecting them as I strive to instill A Passion for Books in my children—and someday, Lord willing, my grandchildren…

Written for YLCF’s March of Books “Books About Books” Carnival