We’ve probably all heard how we pass our DNA traits to our descendants, and show what we learn in our family of origin to our children, right? I think we also pass on our love of reading books to our littles as well.

I’m giving credit to my mama for my love of books. All of us, my two brothers and sister, are avid readers. If I didn’t want to nap, she’d stack picture books on the end of my bed and tell me to read. I usually fell asleep. As a mom of two, I did that with my preschoolers. They both became avid readers. Reading is something we can encourage and instill in the young ones, and they never stop. Was your family life filled with books?

My favorite pastimes, if I wasn’t playing outside by our creek or searching for creatures to bring home, were reading and coloring. Somehow, my favorite childhood books survived and are sitting on my bookshelf. Just opening them comforts me with lovely memories.

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A vivid memory of when I was six years old still makes me grin. I was in First Grade and at our two-room, tiny school on a rainy day. Our teacher told us she was planning on teaching us something very special. She called half of us up. I got to be in the first group the teacher called us up alphabetically onto the stage. Our rural school also housed the Community Grange Hall meetings. It was my favorite part of the day when half of us looked at books, and the other half did math with the teacher.

The long table with chairs held a book at each place setting. I hadn’t seen this book before. Teacher told me to put it down and wait for instruction. She was going to show us how to sound out words, and we had to follow along. We opened the book to the first page. Teacher said to sound out the first word. “See.” I grasped it. Those black marks were words!

Teacher had taught us phonetics for separate words, and now there were three to five together. “See Jane run.” Oh, my goodness. I think I screamed. The girl beside me knocked her book onto the floor. I jumped up. Teacher told me something, probably, please take your seat. But I couldn’t sit. I kept reading each sentence and danced all around.

The kids stared at me, then the teacher, then each other. I didn’t care. Those words made a story, and by jolly, I was going to read the whole thing. I went on and on. Finally, Teacher got my attention, and told me to sit back down and read as far as I could without spoiling it for everyone. She wanted to the other children to enjoy the story like I did.

Teacher liked me a lot more after that. I always got in trouble for talking. Now, I’d be reading the books forever.

Meet E.V. Sparrow

E.V. Sparrow is a short story writer turned novelist. Her readers encounter God’s unexpected presence through her character’s escapades. Her own adventures she wrote short stories about involved traveling in over twenty countries. Sparrow lived on an Israeli kibbutz, worked for the U.S. Army in Bavaria, and hopped a freight train for a weekend.

A highlight for Sparrow is when Guideposts and Bethany House Publishers accepted four of her anthologized stories before she signed a 3-book historical fiction series contract with Celebrate Lit Publishing.

Her father’s family’s immigration from Ireland, their letters and documents, and some family stories inspired her current 3-book historical fiction series.

In E.V.’s personal and church life, she ministered through prayer, worship, mission teams, and in Divorce Care and Singles. California native relocated to North Carolina, E.V. Sparrow and her husband enjoy family time with their grandchildren and exploring their new state.