Spread the love of literature

I’ve always loved to read. While in school, my favorite subjects were English, reading, and history. I never grew up wanting a career in the newspaper industry, but the fact that I have one is actually a good fit with my likes and interests. 

While it is a part of my job every week to read each page of this newspaper before you see it, it is a labor I love. 

Reading is knowledge, which is why I have also tried to pass along my literary love to my children and grandchildren.

It was a family ritual for my husband and I to read to our children. We cherished this time together, and many of the books we read to them had important life lessons within their pages.  

Our son’s favorite book became “The Magic Fish” by Freya Littledale. In this book, a poor fisherman that lived in an old hut by the sea catches a magic fish who convinces the man to let him go because he is magic and a prince. When the fisherman’s wife hears the tale, she sends the man back to ask the magic fish for a pretty house. 

The man is reluctant, but does so, and the magic fish grants them a pretty house. The wife isn’t happy for long and repeatedly sends the fisherman back to ask for a castle and to be queen of the land, but the last straw for the magic fish was when she wants to be queen of the sun, moon and stars. 

In the end, the magic fish sends them back to their old hut. The message we hoped our children retained was to be happy with what you have.

This book was read so many times that the pages became tattered and loose and the back cover disappeared. The book sat on a shelf as we watched our children grow into adulthood and begin their own lives. 

Then, we dusted it off when our grandchildren came to visit and it became a favorite of theirs as well. I think they preferred my husband’s recitation as his version always had a bit more emotion and added story-telling. 

It’s been several years ago, but I found and bought a new magic fish book to add to our family collection. This book and many others hold a special place in our family’s memory file. 

With the holidays around the corner, a good book — or a subscription to the News Letter Journal — makes a great gift for anyone on your gift list. The News Letter Journal has several books for sale by local authors. We have books from Lucas Keeler, Leonard Cash, Lucille Dumbrill, Dean Butler, Steve Anderson, Joseph Shucraft, Michael Alexander, Cole Slaamot, and many others. We also carry Bill Sniffin’s collection of Wyoming coffee table books. Stop by and check out NLJ’s entire inventory of books, order a subscription, and keep on reading!