Last week I enjoyed speaking with a homeschooling mom in Quebec, Canada. Her English was great, though she did easily slip into French without intending to. It has been a long time since my jr. high school French classes, but coincidently, the week before I had been listening to "Les Miserables" (Victor Hugo) on tape, and along with an increase in foreign vocabulary, the French accent of the reader was very strong; I relished the beauty of the language.

Without having traveled much beyond the borders of the United States, because of literature I can still enjoy the flavor of other countries. I imagine parts of Canada simply because Anne of Green Gables' descriptions of Prince Edward island were so indelibly clear. Reading activities take us all over the world without costing us anything for the travel. It's marvelous to feel rich returning from the library with a loaded bag of books and tapes!