Image Courtesy of Scampion

“A house is no home unless it contain food and fire
for the mind as well as for the body.”

~ Margaret Fuller

I can’t imagine a home without books. Books were such a part of my child hood. They took me on journey’s I couldn’t go on myself. The took me through the heart of people I would never know.

Books feed my thirst for knowledge. They help satisfy the curiosity within me. Books stir my soul. At times, they cause me to mourn and cause me to question myself and my judgment. Other times, they lift me up and linger within my heart. So yes, a house just wouldn’t be a home without books.

Books are some of my most precious possessions. It’s hard to imagine a home without a book. Yet there are millions and millions of people that have never had the pleasure of owning a book. What’s sadder still is that many of them don’t know what they are missing.

When it was time for my oldest daughter to start kindergarten we went to our first “meet the teacher night.”  The teacher had a list of questions she asked each child.  You know, the ones. The questions that help them to get to know the child better.   She asked, “How many books do you have in your house?”

Going through a questionnaire, she continued, “1 to 3, 3 to 5, 5, to 7, 8 to 10?” And then paused.  I could tell she was a little disappointed when we didn’t respond to her list, and that must surely mean we didn’t value books.

After seeing the look on her face I laughed and replied, “Oh, don’t worry.  We have hundreds of books in our house.  We have books in the hall, books in the kitchen, books in the bedroom, books in living room.  We’ve got plenty.”

I can safely say we had more food to fuel her mind, than we did to fuel her body.