The Reading Promise My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma was a book I could not wait to read in fact I had wait for it to become available at my local library for a month and when I checked it out the librarian was jealous I got it before her since she is on the list. My expectation of this book was that Alice Ozma was going to detail a group of books that she remembered the most or maybe even reread as well as how they taught her lessons. This book was not that. I have to admit I was taken back thanks to my expectation. It was more than that. Alice writes of her childhood and The Streak (the challenge). It is about a relationship between a daughter and the first man of her life her daddy. I was touched by their relationship and inspired by her Father’s passion to read to his daughter. I was able to see how the simple act of reading can bring a parent even closer to a child. I was inspired by how this block of time was so simple and how wonderful it kept on though out Alice’s childhood. I was taken back to my own childhood and I reflected on in my case it was my mother who read to me and how to this day I can tell you a handful of my favorite books and how I read them to my children. I them thought at what age did that stop because it stopped somewhere around the third grade maybe. This by the way was when they started their challenge of 100 books every single night of the week. Once they reached that goal they extended the goal to 1000. I then reflected on my own children and it was about this time that they were to big for me to read to. I once heard that the best gifts are not gifts at all for they do last. The best gifts given are experiences they last they do not ware out or break or simply become forgotten and this challenge, what a gift it was for both parent and child. I laughed at Alice and her thought process as a child. She wrote so vividly about things like her getting locked into the school’s office and looking for a portal behind the fax machine since she had tried her own closet at home and was not transported to another land like in the book The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe to the being afraid of John F Kennedy so what did her Dad do but take here to but his presidential library during a vacation. I have to say if you are a parent I recommend this book. Oh if I could just have a do over or have thought of the streak. This book is truly a beautiful story of a daughter’s love. In the back of the book they have a list of some of the books they read that might inspire you to read to your children. I give this book 3 and ½ stars. I rate my books on a scale of 1 to 5. One being the worst and 5 being the best.
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