Owly was my favorite book as a child.  Still is.

I read it to my children often.

But as my divorce progresses, things have become difficult in ways that I never imagined.  Like having to say goodbye to my children at the end of every other week.

One day, as their father was about to pick them up, I was talking to my 3-year-old and telling her that I’d miss her but that she was going to have a great time.  I try not to say “I’ll miss you” or “I miss you” too often, because I don’t want her to connect any negative emotions with the time she spends with her father.  But I’m human.  It slipped out.

And she smiled at me and said, “you can read my books while I’m gone.”

It was such a grown-up sentiment.  It was all I could do not to cry.  I’d once told her she could hug a stuffed animal if she was missing me, and now she was giving me the same advice.  And with books!  As a writer (and a reader), story time with my girls is SO special to me.

This happy memory blossomed into the idea of me reading the books to a camera, so my girls could still have me read to them even when I wasn’t around.

And then I thought – why not share them?

Books are a gift, after all.  A wonderment.  A comfort.  And certainly worth sharing.

In the spirit of privacy, I had already decided not to make the stories too personal, (including their names in the video, for example), so I simply added a title onto the front of the video.

Seemed pretty nice.

Nothing too fancy, though.  The books themselves are magical enough.  And I wanted it to be like when we curl up in bed or on the couch or on the floor together and read the book, page by page, sharing a simple moment.  Books are powerful enough on their own with no need for special effects or soundtracks.

So the videos will be just me.  Reading.

Here is my first video, Owly:

I hope you – and especially your children/grandchildren/etc – love it!  Please let me know what you think.  :)

And if you’d like to follow along, you can find Owly on Amazon.