Yesterday, we received a large box in the mail that looked like it was about to burst! The return address said it was from Scholastic, and I was initially perplexed because we hadn’t ordered any books from them.

What's in the box...?

When we opened the box, we found that it was packed full with adorable books from Scholastic, accompanied by a card from my friend Celia. Celia is an assistant manager for Scholastic Book Clubs in the Baby to Kindergarten Clubs in New York City, and she had generously sent us a whole bunch of sample books for our baby daughter! I remember her offering to send us some a couple months ago, but I had completely forgotten, and hadn’t expected that she’d send so many… and all brand new!

The box was bursting with books!

Look at all these books! There are definitely some classics in there that I remember from my own childhood. 🙂

So many books for baby! Thanks Celia!!!

There was even a Classic Pooh book in there! It goes perfectly with our nursery theme… I love Classic Pooh. ♥

Classic Pooh book

One of my fondest memories from elementary school was getting the monthly (or was it quarterly?) book order forms from Scholastic that were passed out in class. I’d excitedly circle all the books I wanted and would rush home to give the form to my parents, and they’d write a check for me to bring back to my teacher with the order form the next day… I couldn’t wait to receive my order of books every time! :)  And the Scholastic book fairs! Those were some of the pinnacle events of the school year for me. (Can you tell I was a total bookworm as a kid?) It’s heartwarming to think that I’ll be reliving those days — not as a child but as a parent — in a matter of years.

We’ve been happy and grateful to receive a handful of hand-me-down baby/kids books from my boss, cousin, and friends, but these will be the baby’s first set of brand new books that will be all her own! Thank you so much, Auntie Celia! 😀 We will treasure the books for years to come.

I believe that the gift of reading is one of the earliest and most valuable gifts that you can give to a child, and one that will stay with them much longer than all those adorable onesies and layettes they’ll receive (although those are very nice, too!). Dan and I can’t wait to read to our daughter, both in English and in Japanese. I have a feeling she’ll grow up to be a bookworm, just like mommy… with her head in the clouds, and her nose in a book.