Reader Thanks Day: What Are You Thankful For?

Apparently today is Reader Thanks Day. I've never heard of this before--in fact, I think it may have just been created--but I kind of love it already.

Reading means so many different things to so many people. Why not share what makes it special for you, what you love about it, who inspires you, and more?

So in the spirit of this new holiday, I'll go first and tell you a little about some of my own reader thanks:

I'm thankful for characters who I never expected to relate to, who teach me something about myself I never knew before.  

I'm thankful for libraries that let me take out ten books at a time each and every week of the summer when I was a kid, and to my mom for driving me there. 

I'm thankful for the pencil and paper that helped me escape into my own version of reality for a while as I was growing up.   

I'm thankful for books that make me laugh out loud and smile really, really wide, even when life is kicking my butt. 

I'm thankful for authors like Laurie Halse Anderson and Davida Wills Hurwin for being the first authors to show me that you can a difficult topic and make it accessible to a young audience. 

I'm thankful for first editions that take me back to the time and place they were written with the smell of their pages, design of their bindings, and beauty of their content. 

I'm thankful that books that challenge me, that make me feel, and make me--and everyone who lets them--dream big.

Now it's your turn. 

What are you thankful for? 

Share with us in a comment, and don't forget to use the hashtag #readerthanks when you share with the Twitterverse!