Books Can Be Valentines

I love reading Kate DiCamillo's posts on facebook. Each one is like her books: relatively short, nostalgic, with words that pack a punch.

Yesterday it was about the card her mom gave her every year on Valentine's Day. She never missed one, even as she neared the end of her life. Now that she's gone, Kate thinks about those cards, none of which she kept.

But then she said this: 

But I do have the books (Ribsy, The Cricket in Times Square, Lincoln, The Borrowers, All of a Kind Family, Paddington, The Twenty-One Balloons) she gave to me.
Those books were valentines, too, I suppose.
They are still valentines.

It made me so happy to read this because of what I have hidden away in my nightstand drawer, just waiting for tomorrow morning:

For Aaron: Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
For Maxwell: Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride by Kate DiCamillo
For Bradley: Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin
For Clark: Animal Spots and Stripes by Britta Teckentrup

Books are not the only way I say I love you to my kids. But they are definitely one of the ways.

When I give a book, I'm saying:

Here's a gift of literacy, friendship, and stories that never die.

Whether they end up keeping the book or not (and to be honest, I'm kind of hoping they'll let it stay here when they leave), they'll take that love of reading with them.

It's one of the best and longest lasting gifts I can think of to give them.

P.S. Are you giving books for Valentine's Day?

P.P.S. Yes, I love it that one of the books I'm giving tomorrow happens to be by Kate herself. Our Mercy Watson collection is almost complete!