This guest blog post is provided by Lisa Hidalgo, Meteorologist at Denver7 and Reach Out and Read Colorado Event Emcee
It’s ironic that I work in television, because all I ever want to do is read. People often ask me, “What is your favorite show?” or “What are you binge watching right now?” The answer is always “NOTHING!” When I’m not on air, or driving my kids around town, or playing fetch with our new dog, I’m deep into a book. In fact, I’m usually reading while playing fetch! I don’t remember when I started to love a good book, but I do know that Tattered Cover had something to do with it. I would make my mom drop me off at the old Cherry Creek North location and I would curl up for hours in different corners of the store. Tattered Cover is still to this day one of my favorite places in Colorado and they also partner with our Denver7 Book Club.
I have two little girls and my oldest FINALLY wants to sit with me and read. I’ve been waiting for this day for years. We love building a fire, making hot chocolate and squeezing into one chair to read together. I started reading her the illustrated Harry Potter books about three years ago and now she’s reading them to me. My youngest daughter still loves being read to and some of our favorite books are written by Mo Willems. Knuffle Bunny can do no wrong!
I always have a running list of my five favorite books. It does change (every once in a while) but there have been a few constants. Here it is…A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving; the Harry Potter series (hard to pick just one) by J.K. Rowling; The Hearts Invisible Furies by John Boyne; A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles and if you have the patience for a really long but amazing book – Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.
My piece of advice to our young readers is to always carry a book around with you! I’m personally a hard cover kind of girl but encourage you to read whatever you can get your hands on. It’s so nice to put down the phone and pick up the pages. My biggest fear is a world without books…or writers…or cozy independent book stores!
I’m proud to work for a station that cares about books and literacy as much as I do. Denver7 Read to Lead is our community commitment to supporting literacy in Colorado. Through community partnerships and initiatives, we work to increase access to books, encourage reading, and educate folks on the importance of reading for all ages. We’re thrilled to partner with Reach Out and Read Colorado on this year’s Where the Wild Things Read event. I can’t wait to see you there!
