I really have an avid ecstatic love for books. My library is dizzying. I read a lot. Interestingly, not as much as I would love to but hey, I read plenty. On sunday in church, the visiting pastor said he reads a new book every three days or so and i knew i had work to do mehn… I am still trying to buy into the ‘e-book’ thingy and getting a kindle but I swear by hardcopy sha. There is something fascinating about bookmarking the page you stopped at. Yup, I am bookmarker obsessed too, loool.
(my latest magnetic book marker)
Ok back to books, I practically played mini momma to my three nieces. People who followed my early writings especially on facebook would have seen all our trips and stuff together.
But of the three girls, I spent the most time with Mmeso.
Three significant things she picked from her aunty;
- She sucked her thumb till almost 8. Well I quit at almost 15 so she didn’t learn quite right. She sucked because when she starts crying and I had run out of creative ways to placate her, I would remove her mittens and let her suck so she will stop crying. Yeah, I know. I am crazy smart like that.
- She can watch TV for Africa. I used to be a TV freak myself too at that stage. That was because after I removed her mittens, I would put her in her car seat and station her right in front of the TV, and wham!!! PEACE to the
middle eastMuogilim household.
Before I mention the final one. let me quickly add that Mmeso lives on the easy side of life. She hates housework, absolutely. Another thing she picked from me. Please give me the easy way out of anything anytime, thank you very much
*coveringmyeyesNOT*
- She is an absolute GENIUS. My girl is super smart!!! She can read mehn. Mmeso would read ANYTHING and that explains her smartness. She has an answer for anything, questions almost everything, has amazing diction, complete with big big oyibo ooo. She teaches her sisters their homework very easily. And she writes the best fiction. Oh brother!!! I love reading her creative writing notebook. Her imagination is outta this world. And in her school work, she excels. If she misses first, she doesn’t miss second. She and her bestie rotate it. She is a teacher’s delight. I look forward to her open day always. She is incredibly phlegmatic though. You can’t push her at all. She always used to say she would be a newscaster on CNN. I believe her. Though now she speaks of being an artiste. That’s a passing fad, I think. Need I mention that she wears glasses too.
So whenever my sister yabs me and says that this her daughter’s love for TV is my fault, I remind her that Mmeso’s genius did NOT come from her or her husband. She usually doesn’t argue. From that early age, we did a lot of reading together.
Last Saturday, there was this book-fair thingy in Unilag and naturally, my sis begged me to take her kids. I love books too and this was my own opp to shop for free. So we piled into the car and drove to Unilag.
The moment we stepped in, Mmeso was like a kid in a candy store with Disney characters. S
he left us and ran off cos her sister’s were wasting too much time at a stand, when she wanted to explore. She took a quick look at the directory and said ‘Aunty Eziaha, I will be in HALL C.’ When she resurfaced, she whined and whined till we left all and followed her to pay for what she had picked.
We had a generous budget so we shopped till we dropped. Literally.
Plus some book stands were really really cheap. Salesmen and women tried to shove books in our faces and it was fun hearing my girl say stuff like ‘I have read this one before in kosi’s house’ ‘I read this in the library’ I borrowed this from the neighbors’ ‘We have this at home’. I mean, it looked like she had read almost all the series in popular children’s books. I felt like the proud momma to this wunderkind 11 year old.
We had a fantastic time shopping. Of course her sisters bought books too as she has influenced them wella especially her younger sis.
We were sad to leave but definitely, most of the bookstores with stands there knew A GENIUS CALLED MMESO WAS HERE.
I am really big on raising kids the right way. We as parents and guardians will do our part. God will play His own part. But we gotta play our part well cos God surely plays His #likeaBOSS. One thing we can do is introduce them to the world of books early in life.
Of course you have to be careful what they read. Not all Hannah Montana is books are good for them. Please screen the books they are reading
Readers are leaders. A book is to the mind what food is to the body. If we say we are losing our reading culture as a nation or a race, I say the best way to save it is by making sure our kids read… Read! Read!! Read!!!
One of the books I got them was Ben Carson’s GIFTED HANDS.
I love how that book cuts across ages. I recall my sis, their mom saying ‘I can’t quite place who he is’ and Bube, the first says ‘he is a doctor’ and Mmeso says ‘he is a neurosurgeon and was the first person to separate Siamese twins successfully’
#Geniustinz#
I also got two amazing books… ‘Email from God for Grads’ and ‘All of the above’
I am enjoying the ‘Email for Grads’ because it just contains good news and stuff from heaven and the bible. You know how recent grads can be scared of this ‘real world’ and all. Fantastic book, containing such soothing romantic words. It is written by a momma and her son. There is indeed a book for everything fa.
People read biko… Read and stop basking in ignorance. Not reading is so 16th century. Reading is the new cool. Really soon, the latest chyking line would be ‘My name is Donald and I love to read’.
Like my Rev Albert Oduwole will say, sometimes tell yourself you will NOT EAT till you have read a certain book or number of pages that day. Yes, it is that serious. Ignorance today is deadly!!!
The world of books is just FABtastic!!!
Muah
E’
By thje way, whoop, i won a laptop plus one year internet access…
From the jimovia foundation. More about it later.
I wrote about it on my NYSC blog… www.iseegreenng.wordpress.com
keep visiting it. I would be sharing cool stuff there too.
Hmmm. Am strongly behind you ma’ma. Carry on.
Hmmm. Am strongly behind you ma’ma. Carry on…
thanks booooooooo
A lovely piece of writing. An oyinbo man was once quoted that the best way to hide information from Africans is to hide it in a book, because Africans (Nigerians in particular )don’t read. However, when Chimamanda Adichie was interviewed on TED Show, she made mention of her publisher, Muktar Bakare who disagreed. He said “those who could read would read if you made literature available an accessible to them “. It ‘s high time we stood up and change dis age -old beliefs that Nigerians don’t read. In doing so, we all have a role to play.
Its good to know that people outside d campus are making use of the UNILAG book fair. I never go there when I was in school. Most times I rent books from the readers club on campus. They have a large collections and the guy in charge is well updated on new books as soon as they are released. Currently, I am reading a newly released book called “INFERNO” by Dan Brown. You should try it. Very Interesting.
Finally, I am an avid reader of your blog. just want to let you know you are doing a great job. It might be time to increase your audience a bit by getting more traffic to this blog. *just saying*.
Nice One
*Thumps up*
Gentle G.
yesooooo. i am doing my bestest love…
yup books dey jor
i love her the danger of a single story…
fantastic
E
I seriously screen my friends by their reading. pple never know that the reason it seems u know more than them is bcos one reads. i was exposed to reading at a really early age, b4 i entered secondary school i had a lot of books especially novels and even then in sec school……… i can say m addicted to reading & my library is like woah….. yeah i love buyn books. i read absolutely anything even newspapers; i buy them with my own money… yeah i am a reader like that and it has really taken me places. Its with dismay that i observe that parents don’t even encourage their children to read….. infact, last time i took some books to sell in my church and this 13yr old replied when her mother asked her if she wanted the book ” haha! mummy u know m nt d reading type, buy the book for Annie (her younger sis)” and i was like???? the mum did exactly as the girl recommended. i was so angry when i tried talking to the girl, she quietly asked me the benefit of wasting her time reading when those who dont like musicians are making the big bucks? i felt bad bcos the truth is that the world really do not encourage reading…. for instance look @ the glo ambassadors, y cant they be readers or writers? its a pity that our youths are influenced by all the pomps……All i can say is that my own children are sure going to be readers and writers… God helping me. I am into scrabble playing and i’m introducing it to schools and u need to see the reactions of some pple….so ignorant, i even feel embarrased for them…….. well i never let anyone esp children n teenagers arnd me rest till they hve inculcated the reading spirit.
Ok Zi,
I need to meet you.
Are you sure you are not my missing twin… Looool.
Do me an email pls
Ajaeroeziaha@gmail.com
Score on all points darling.
We need better role models ooo.
I don’t think we are wise in projecting models. It takes only d very discerning to not be swayed by all d pomp and p’s of emptiness. All fluff, no substance when the rubber meets the road.
When I look at all em motivational speakers talk and ppl wow, I know tz simply because they are reading.
For me I try to hear what they are not saying. You will hear them quote this and that they read in a book and u know why they shine d way they do.
My kids don’t have a choice mehn… I’m making ‘mmesos’ outta them
The child said ‘she’s not the reading type’ and d momma indulged her.
Oh my!!!
What’s that!!!
With people like us, there is hope.
Meanwhile u inspired a new post darling
WE NEED BETTER ROLE MODELS
Tz already dedicated to you
Muah
E’
Just seeing dis dear……. t’will be really nice for u to write about role models, the world has got it wrong really and if we are not vigilant, our children will be ones to suffer (God Forbid!) btw most youths are already suffering. according to a friend, she said our generation was the last sane one…lol. The older generation acts like they are in awe of the way things are changing but my opinion? they r the cause of the bad change, they are the ones who sit on the board of the companies that approve these musicians as ambassadors or these nude models as models for their products. i am a business person and i always tell people that sometimes, making a profit doesnt really matter but the influence/impact u have on people matters a lot. for e.g even though MTN spent millions getting ‘Saka’ to their camp and the advert is so lovely that everyone is singing it…. the fact is that no sane nigerian will be porting to MTN till they work on their service cos even if they have covered mot of the country networkwise, their service is crap. Same thing for companies like MTN, GLO, etc that claim they care abt the future… y wont they use writers as their ambassadors? GLO just added ‘Burna Boy’ to their ambassadorial list, when i heard it i was furious cos v listened to his songs and though i admits the beats r unique, the lyrics are not inspirational or life changing so y…….? My younger broda usually says that “the devil always fool people by making it seem that the yoke has placed on them is lighter when in actual fact it is mega heavy” Do u know that this companies like GLO dat use these musicians as models wont have to pay so much if they were using writers or inspirational models? why havent they thought of it this way?……” the gods of the world have blinded them…….” Every day, i pray the lord uses me to make positive impact in the lives of all those i meet esp the young ones, they really need guidiance and answers to their plenty question. the talk plenty but make i stop here darl……. thanks for dedicating the next post to me n Kudos! u r doing a great job with this blog, m so sure lives have been impacted.
So true darling
You are providing content for this blogpost
Amazing!!!
Thanks again
E’
But how can’t you love to read? :s ‘Tis really baffling when people say ‘I do not read books’. Then how do you feed your brain? Where is d entrance for self-development if you don’t feed it with intellectual food? Haaaa, people shld not give room for the devil to dry their brain cells. As a Librarian, I can really describe my passion for books. So many reasons for reading abound. Such as, the more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go. A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading. Infact, Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly. Need I go on? What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn’t happen much, though. So, I’m totally in love wit ur nieceooooo. My children must love books, or I’d put them up for adoption…and God will understand. High time parents stop wasting so much money on play stations. They shld buy books that wil help their kids MAKE/INVENT their own play stations.
Oh my!!!
You can tell that my Dumdum is a reader mehn!!!
A crazy one though :p
I feel u on the ‘call up the author’ bit. So many people I wish I could call up and continue the story line. Sadly I can’t
Yet!!!
Yesooooo. Adoption jare. I,like God understands biko
But u did a fine job analyzing ds. Oshay dear…
E’
Ezi, it’s nice to know that there are still individuals who value books, nice piece. am a teacher and i absolutely agree with you on the reading culture is zero now. In between PS1,2,3 or Wii games and the social networks books have really receded to the background
We need to awake the zeal for books. Thanks for reminding us.
We really need to ooo.
Especially with the kids…
I feel you can still drive something into them. Parents and teachers especially.
Sometimes I think the case is somewhat hopeless for adults. Loooool. Thanks for droppin’ by
E’