I love to read books, always have, so it was exciting this week to write about Picayune’s new community library. The Little Free Library opened in June and is open to everyone.

There are adult and children books. Readers may borrow a book and choose to return it or not. 

This is a great way to encourage reading among young people. 

I grew up with my nose in the Nancy Drew series, Babysitter’s Club series and Sweet Valley High series. 

Of course, my tastes have matured since.

In high school and college, I discovered a love of Shakespeare.

Nowadays, one will find me reading the latest Patricia Cornwell, Tim Dorsey, Karin Slaughter, Charlaine Harris, James Patterson and any other crime or mystery themed novel I can get my hands on. 

Currently I’m tackling the “Game of Thrones” series of books. I’m a big fan of the television show, so I hope the show lives up to the written word. 

Reading is an important practice and one that must be fostered early on. 

Circle time was one of my favorite times of day when I was a preschool teacher. 

All of my little students would gather on the carpet and we would recite our numbers, ABCs, colors and read one book, that corresponded to our weekly theme. 

The students enjoyed listening to the different stories almost as much as I enjoyed reading to them, although I must admit Dr. Seuss is quite the tongue twister. 

There is recent research about reading to babies during the last ten weeks of pregnancy. 

According to WebMD, this new research suggests that babies begin to absorb language when they are inside the womb during the last ten weeks of pregnancy. Newborns can actually tell the difference between their mother’s native tongue and foreign languages just hours after they are born. 

The Little Library is a new and great asset for the readers of Picayune. It provides an access to literature and introduces new books to readers of all ages.