The Travellin' Kind, Part III

I've loved books since I was crawling. I would toss cardboard books in front of me as I crawled towards my mother so she could read them to me. I am called "The Book Baby" for a reason. Books were always much better friends than people were when I was growing up, which is why I know that I would have loved the Harry Potter books as a child and why I like them as an adult as well.

It was electric to walk down the streets of Oxford at 11pm last Friday night and to see an ever-growing line in front of the bookstore (see the photo to the right). My lovely host for the eventful weekend has already written about our adventures that Friday night, but I will recap and rehash a little bit.

The children reminded me of the way I would have been if I was a little kid at the big event: awkward and nerdy, but very excited that all this fuss was about a book! My favorite image of the night was a woman, in academic regalia, leading her son (wearing a cape, round glasses, and a wizard's hat) to his father, also in academic regalia. I hope one day Kevin and I can have a moment like that -- to become kids again with our own children. I also loved watching the children after they had their book in hand; parents leading them on as the children read their new books whilst walking home.There were so many children out, even though it was late. Many of the children looked like me when I was. Now for a few pictures of the big children:


Trust me. It's not a duvet cover, it's a cape.

The bookshop set up a platform that everyone walked through on the way to their book!