Thanksgiving Reflections, Bedtime Stories & Why Reading Early Matters
Dear Friend,
I hope your Thanksgiving was relaxing, memorable, and filled with the people you love most. We had a wonderful time celebrating with our favorites. I’m curious, what’s your dish of choice? Mine will always be green bean casserole. No competition. Let me know what your favorite is!
A Bedtime Story… for a Labrador?
This past weekend, I had the chance to set up my booth at The Sami Show. It was three full days of fun, laughter, and meeting so many incredible people. One of those amazing people was a woman who smiled the moment she saw my booth, then made a beeline straight to my books.
She picked up Millie Lost Her Nose, flipped through the pages, and instantly started smiling and laughing.
“I want this book,” she said without hesitation.
I asked if she wanted it addressed to anyone special.
She said, “Yes, to Millie.”
Naturally, I asked, “How fun! Who’s Millie?”
She replied, completely serious, “Millie is my Labrador retriever. I’m buying this book for her because she’s going to love it.”
She said she planned to read it to her at bedtime that night. Her mom rolled her eyes and said, “You know she won’t sit still long enough, she’s still too young.”
It was such a wholesome, hilarious moment. I love seeing how these stories find their way into all kinds of hearts-two-legged and four-legged.
A Thought I Can’t Shake
I was reading a book recently (not the one with the rare bit of magic, though that’s a good one too), and I came across something that really stuck with me.
It said that around 90% of a child’s brain develops by age five, and reading helps build the neural connections that fuel learning, creativity, and emotional development.
I’ve had countless parents, grandparents, and guardians tell me, “My child is too young for a hardcover book with paper pages, we’ll wait.”
And I get it. I’ve been there.
My boys chewed on pages, bent covers, and ripped entire spreads out like they were performing magic tricks. The destruction was real.
But you know what else is real?
The value of the ritual.
The connection.
The wonder.
The quiet shaping of who they’re becoming.
I don’t think the issue is that young children can be destructive, of course they can. I think the real question is whether we’re willing to fight for those moments that shape them early on, even if the books end up a little… well-loved.
I’d genuinely love to hear your thoughts on this.
Thank you, as always, for being part of this journey. Your support means more to me than I can ever fully express. Here’s to a joyful start to the holiday season—and to stories that bring us a little closer together.
Until next time,
A.B. Wade
Author of the On The Farm Collection