One winter, when my oldest three children were nine, seven, and five, I discovered it was much easier to woo them out of their warm beds if they knew we would start our day with a read-aloud. We’d get up and stagger out to the kitchen in our pajamas to fill mugs with coffee, tea, or cocoa before gathering on the living room sofas to tuck ourselves under blankets and ease our way into the day with a story. That winter we read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Caddie Woodlawn, and Justin Morgan Had a Horse. These are some of my favorite memories from that year—cozied up bedheads starting our day with
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