Ah, For The Love Of Reading...

My faith in the next generation of readers is restored.

On Thursday they came to pick up our donation for the tombola prizes. This afternoon was and probably still is the annual children's fancy dress party and I can imagine the roof of the venue being screeched off numerous times with the ever popular musical chairs game plus the mere fact that the kindergarten & primary school crew resplendent as witches, vampires, cowboys, cops & robbers has to be vocal and entertaining.

Bob and I decided to give three books as our donation, and we had a ball trying to find them in Oberwart. Gosh, it was like delving back into my childhood seeing some of the books on offer. Who didn't love stories set in a boarding school preferably complete with a stable of horses?

It can be quite tricky finding the right book not knowing who will end up with it. A reader or an iphoner? Never mind, we took a gamble that it might be a well received prize!!

Back to Thursday. The young girls came along with their mums and instead of knocking on the door I noticed a small face pressed against the window. Cute. I had the books ready in a packet and went out to hand it over.

" Sorry, we didn't wrap them. I hope that's okay? "

Before one of the mums could answer, the slightly older of the girls ( about 7 ) took the packet and excitedly delved into it. As she saw what we had bought, she was besides herself with giddiness...

" Oh mum look, books! I want to read these books. "

I can't tell you how happy I was to hear that. A girl who loves reading as much as we do. Lately I've encountered teenagers who only read text books because they have to and who don't see the point of reading for pleasure which is hard for me to comprehend. Thus, seeing those eyes light up at the sight of three books did me the world of good and has restored my faith in the next generation...

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