You Smell Like a New Book

When I was a first grade teacher, I loved to teach writing to my students.  We spent a lot of time learning to write, all types of writing, but their most favorite type was descriptive writing.
I would typically have them draw a picture of some given topic and then have them describe that particular person/place/thing.

On one particular day, I was the subject of their work.  I asked my students to draw a picture of me and then describe me.  I let them "interview" me and recorded my answers on the board.  As was a typical part of most of their descriptive pieces, they had to incorporate at least two of their 5 senses in their work.

Hands down, my most favorite description was from a little boy named Matt Jones.  He wrote,

"Mrs. Jones smells like a new book."

I laughed out loud when I read it, and then just had to ask him what he meant by that.  He said, "Mrs. Jones, my favorite thing about coming to school is getting new books.  They smell so good.  And you smell good all the time.  I just didn't know how to say what you smelled like, so I picked something that smelled good and said you smell like that."  (He got an A+!)

As I think about the new year, I am reminded of Matt Jones, and it makes me smile.  New does indeed, smell good. 

All that to say, Happy New Year.  May every day smell as good as a new book.