Time to Clear the Grandchildren’s Bookshelf

Along a Rainforest River A Navy Wife’s “Plan for Death”

Time to Clear the Grandchildren’s Bookshelf

It’s time to clear the grandchildren’s bookshelf.

I’ve put off the job for too long because it’s emotionally tricky.

It’s not exactly a rerun of clearing the children’s books, but it’s close.

This time, though, it probably means for good.

At least when I had children, I knew I’d reuse the books with my grandchildren.

Now, well, they’re pretty much done.

At least with the toddler books.

So, what’s on the grandchildren’s bookshelf?

The classics I couldn’t bear to part with have sat on my shelves since the firstborn.

Some of them were my (few) childhood books, like Go, Dog, Go.

Some were gifts from my mother to her grandchildren. And now her great-grandchildren, born long after her death.

She’d glue photos of herself on the adult women in the books, and then mail them to my children.

“Grammy!” they’d cry when they turned a page and found her as a flight attendant or a teacher.

My grandchildren never even saw those photos–because their parents ripped them out!

So, what’s on the bookshelf?

Here’s a list of the particularly well-worn books.

Go, Dog, Go. (The perfect gift for a two-year-old. We went through five copies.) Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things that Go. (Bought 4 copies–they kept wearing them out!)There’s a Train Going by My Window.Green Eggs and Ham. (One of my child’s first books read aloud to me!) Madeleine and the Gypsies. Katy and the Big Snow. (“Chug, chug, chug.”) Harry and the Lady Next Door. Curious George Gets a Medal. Where the Wild Things Are. (We now have a Max in our family . . . )

What do these books have in common?

They’re all more than 50 years old. I read them as a child myself.

As a result, they’ve proven their value over time. I read them, my children read them, and now my grandchildren have read them.