The Fun of Meeting Authors and Shopping for Books

At the book signing with Jenna Bush Hager

This past Saturday, Jenna Bush Hager was signing copies of her latest book, Love Comes First, which she co-wrote with her sister Barbara Bush. I decided to take my two daughters to the book signing so that they could meet her and get the book signed. We also bought a few other copies and had them signed for some family friends. It was fun and a great experience because my daughters could not believe how many people were at the bookstore to meet Jenna and buy books. After we were finished, we spent some time looking through books in the children’s section and I looked at the novels that were holiday themed. After speaking with Jennifer McCarty Plucker and Stephen Shaskan about supporting kids with reading, this experience was a good reminder about the importance of making the effort to take kids to bookstores, let them meet authors so that they have a face to go with the book, and also talking about books.

On that same note, this week, my kids have the Scholastic Book Fair at their school. The school sent home a brochure with some of the featured books that would be sold. We spent some time looking through the different titles and they each circled the books that they wanted to buy. My older daughter came home yesterday with her books. She selected a few graphic novels as well as other books – including one all about Taylor Swift! My younger daughter will come home from school today with her stack of books.

These are all great opportunities for kids to get excited about books and reading!