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Now that our lawn is carpeted in crunch, and the days are shortening, we spend a great deal of time reading aloud. It happens every year at this time. It’s just what we do. There are also two projects on the needles (because I am easily distracted) – a green scarf (unfinished from last winter) and her blanket, which I am determined to finish by Christmas. Maybe.

I never considered reading a seasonal activity until I became a mother. I’m not even entirely sure how it came to be that way for us, but somewhere along the way it did. I don’t mean that we only read in certain seasons, but rather the books we read (aloud to little people) are often seasonal in nature. Yes, there are favorites that we read year-round, but our trips to the library tend to reflect the calendar.

Now that we’ve followed this pattern for a few years, we mine our favorites as the seasons change which takes a little forethought and planning, but is well worth the effort. However, this year, when I went after our first stash of autumn books, I could not, for the life of me, find a list of what we read last year. I’m a keeper of lists, so this was surprising. Then I realized I did not record all of the books we read during Advent last year…and we read a lot. So, with fresh resolve, I’m determined to begin recording what we read through the year. I’m doing this for a couple of reasons. First, I want all of my children  to enjoy the richness of the stories that she and I have enjoyed together and I can’t possibly remember them all from year to year.  I would also like for them to have a record of the stories they loved to pass down to their own children.

I made a simple seasonal reading log for our family – a place to record what we have read, loved, and would like to read again. The sweet silhouettes on each page are courtesy of The Graphics Fairy. We’re happy to share it with you. I hope the printing and assembly aren’t too confusing. There are detailed instructions below IF you need them. Hope you enjoy! Happy Wednesday!

  Joining Ginny today…

The Year in Books Journal (Download Free PDF) – FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY!

Click the link. When the document opens, click the PRINT icon.

In the print dialogue box, if you are given the option, in the Page Scaling drop down box or menu, choose “none“.

Don’t worry about reading the rest of these directions unless you get confused in the printing. I did!

If you look at the pages as they are laid out, above, the images on the right do not correspond to the season on the left but once your print on both sides of the paper and assemble the pages in order, everything will line up.

Print page 1. Re-insert page 1 and print page 2.
Print page 3. Re-insert page 3 and print page 4.
Print page 5. Re-insert page 5 and print page 6.

Fold each page to put a crease in the center.
Stack the pages in order. They should be stacked in the order they were printed (beginning with page 1 facing down). The last two pages (excluding the back cover) should be the pages that say “For Next Year” and the page with the owl in the corner.

You may either staple or stitch your pages together into a booklet. Ours are stitched. It took 30 seconds at the sewing machine and they’re held together neatly. I trimmed ours down to a smaller size after stitching it together.

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