Lucky us, we’ve had Tamara Ellis Smith visiting these past two days, talking about her theory on picture book magic — The Vibrant Triangle.

Tam is smart and studied and instructive, so I’ll admit to not knowing exactly HOW to follow up on her posts.

So much of what I do happens at an intuitive level, I guess, so although I know what I feel and value in terms of books and literacy and connection, it’s not always on the tip of my tongue.

Which is why, voila, I’m jumping straight from Tam-talk to the tip of someone else’s tongue — the overwhelmingly wise and passionate Mem Fox.

No. She is not here.
I wish she were, but I presume she is in Australia, writing her next perfect picture book.
Or sleeping, since I think it might be nighttime there.

But her book is here.
Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever
And really, if you haven’t read it, I ask that you do.
If you are a mom or a dad or a reader or a writer or a teacher or a librarian, I really, really ask that you do.

My editor, Allyn Johnston (who just so happens to be Mem’s editor, too), tells me she re-reads it regularly (and not because she wants to read about herself or her son-at-age-three, even though they are both featured lovingly). Nope, she reads it because she says it helps her "stay clear about what we as editors, writers, and illustrators of picture books must keep at the forefront whenever we sit down to work — that love connection between child and adult while books are being shared in a dynamic and cozy and attentive and playful way."

Doesn’t that sound mighty worthwhile?

In Reading Magic, Mem Fox talks about how and why kids learn to read, she talks about phonics and sounding out words and T.V., and she talks about Tam’s Vibrant Triangle, even though she doesn’t say so in quite the same way.

What she says is this: "As we share the words and pictures, the ideas and viewpoints, the rhythms and rhymes, the pain and comfort, the hopes and fears and big issues of life that we encounter together in the pages of a book, we connect  through minds and hearts with our children and bond closely in  a secret society associated with the books that we have shared. The fire of literacy is created by the emotional sparks between a child, a book, and the person reading."

Oh, that secret society…

When I was a little girl with a littler sister, we lay on either side of my mom in her pretty blue bed and she cried while reading us Little House in the Big Woods. It is one of the things I’m most grateful for.

I’ve since become the mom of a little girl and her littler sister and we’d all say, I’m certain of it, that a high-point of our lives together so far has been our daily and nightly reading aloud — of Goodnight Moon and Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse, Poppleton and I Love You, Blue Kangaroo.

And even though the littler has grown big and her sister even bigger, we still curl up on the couch together most every night — before they head off to bed with their own books — so we can share The Penderwicks or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or The Lightning Thief or Anne of Green Gables.

It is one of our most intimate and present times together, in the midst of our busy, active, scattered lives. I think Mem would probably be okay with me claiming that it’s as good as magic, and none of us would give it up for anything.