Reading, Researching, Learning

"The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book. "--Samuel Johnson

I have now immersed myself in a non-fiction workshop which is something new for me. Needless to say, I am reading many, many non-fiction books for young children. And surprise! I’m loving it and learning all kinds of cool things that I never knew before. Or if I did I had forgotten them.

I have read about chameleons in Chameleon, Chameleon by Joy Cowley, killer bees in Outside and Inside Killer Bees by Sandra Markle, spiders in The Jumping Spider by Alice B. McGinty, the Great Barrier Reef in Wonders Of The World, The Great Barrier Reef by Peggy J. Parks, and many more.

For one of my assignments I have to submit part of a manuscript, so I knuckled down to do some serious research. And that’s fun too. Anyway, I spent a few hours yesterday reading up on my topic, and felt like a part of my brain, which hadn’t been used in a while, was now operating. I was feeling like Spring had arrived (alas, it hasn’t yet ). A little later in the day my youngest son came to me and began asking me some questions about the animal I had been researching. And I could give answers. This was a summer feeling now

So often when my children ask me questions, especially educational type ones, I don’t always have the answer for them. Sometimes we look it up together, but invariable these questions get asked when I’m in the middle of something and they have to go in search of the answer themselves, so I don’t always find out the answer. But now I’m ready! Watch out here I come…