Raising young readers
Before I had kids I always gave toys as gifts - usually something that would be really loud. But now that I'm a parent myself, I've decided that books are the best gift to give - they get used frequently and they make no noise. I loved reading as a child and keep wanting to select books I loved or books written by some of my favorite authors. I've also added some more to my repertoire based on books my own kids read (or have read to them).
We have a number of small kids in our family (everyone under age 3-1/2). This year, I'm picking a few new books for the little ones:
Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late! and The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! both by Mo Willems who's stories and illustrations are fantastic and simple.
To introduce my kids to more artists, I've selected two art for kids books:
Make Van Gogh's Bed and Pop Warhol's Top.
My niece Alexis is in middle school and is a good reader. But that is such a tricky age - wanting to be older, still kind of young, and not really ready for many teenage themes. I've been trying to think back to when I was her age to remember which books were my favorites, and I can't specifically remember. I do remember going to the library and checking out Amityville Horror which my mom promptly made me return without reading. I remember borrowing copies of Go Ask Alice and Are You There God, It's Me Margaret? to read when my mom wasn't looking (although she may have actually let me read those). One of my favorite books that I read and re-read when I was around her age was the time trilogy by Madeline L'Engle. So this year, I'm giving her the first in the series to see if she likes it - A Wrinkle in Time.
A few nights ago I pulled out my copy of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever thinking that maybe I could read a few pages to Martin each night. This is our first attempt at reading a long book and he did pretty well. It's a big adjustment to go from a picture book to a book where you mostly just listen to the words and create your own vision of what is happening.
In case you haven't read this book, it's about a family of kids who are NAUGHTY. They do all kinds of bad things from smoking cigars to accidentally burning down a shed by creating a bomb with a chemistry set - and that is just in the first few pages. And, now that I write that sentence I have to stop and wonder why on earth I would read a book like this to a child who has trouble on his mind all day long. Really, it just never occurred to me. In all the times that I've read the book I always identified with the narrator who was horrified by the behavior of the Herdman kids, reporting it in a "can-you-even-believe-how-bad-they-are" kind of way. So, here we are, reading about smoking cigars and burning down sheds and I'm doing my best to convey how atrocious their behavior is with my very dramatic reading. When I realize...Martin isn't asking questions about WHY the Herdman's would do such things but HOW they would actually do it.
That's when we closed up the book and switched our conversation to one about safety, making good choices and thinking things through. Sigh. Maybe Sophie will be the child in our family to love this book like I do.
We have a number of small kids in our family (everyone under age 3-1/2). This year, I'm picking a few new books for the little ones:
Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late! and The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! both by Mo Willems who's stories and illustrations are fantastic and simple.
To introduce my kids to more artists, I've selected two art for kids books:
Make Van Gogh's Bed and Pop Warhol's Top.
My niece Alexis is in middle school and is a good reader. But that is such a tricky age - wanting to be older, still kind of young, and not really ready for many teenage themes. I've been trying to think back to when I was her age to remember which books were my favorites, and I can't specifically remember. I do remember going to the library and checking out Amityville Horror which my mom promptly made me return without reading. I remember borrowing copies of Go Ask Alice and Are You There God, It's Me Margaret? to read when my mom wasn't looking (although she may have actually let me read those). One of my favorite books that I read and re-read when I was around her age was the time trilogy by Madeline L'Engle. So this year, I'm giving her the first in the series to see if she likes it - A Wrinkle in Time.
A few nights ago I pulled out my copy of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever thinking that maybe I could read a few pages to Martin each night. This is our first attempt at reading a long book and he did pretty well. It's a big adjustment to go from a picture book to a book where you mostly just listen to the words and create your own vision of what is happening.
In case you haven't read this book, it's about a family of kids who are NAUGHTY. They do all kinds of bad things from smoking cigars to accidentally burning down a shed by creating a bomb with a chemistry set - and that is just in the first few pages. And, now that I write that sentence I have to stop and wonder why on earth I would read a book like this to a child who has trouble on his mind all day long. Really, it just never occurred to me. In all the times that I've read the book I always identified with the narrator who was horrified by the behavior of the Herdman kids, reporting it in a "can-you-even-believe-how-bad-they-are" kind of way. So, here we are, reading about smoking cigars and burning down sheds and I'm doing my best to convey how atrocious their behavior is with my very dramatic reading. When I realize...Martin isn't asking questions about WHY the Herdman's would do such things but HOW they would actually do it.
That's when we closed up the book and switched our conversation to one about safety, making good choices and thinking things through. Sigh. Maybe Sophie will be the child in our family to love this book like I do.
Check out Lane Smith/Jon Sciezka's "Got Art?" It is priceless. In the art department.
I love books.
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If it makes you feel any better, I also read "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" to my older boys when they were young. And, obviously, that turned out all right. Not to worry!
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