bookworms

I am a reader. It is possibly my favorite thing to do. I would read for a job if I could. My dream vacations involve a quiet mountain deck and a good book or a comfy beach chair, the ocean and a good book. If I run out of things to do with the kids or they are driving me crazy, I pick up a book to read to them. When we go on long car drives my children's favorite form of entertainment is a good audio book. So, yeah, obviously I love a good book and my kids know that.

Tom is not a reader. Tom thinks that books require too much work. He is not patient enough to wait for the words to reveal their story. he would rather be doing something. Building something. Fixing something. Discovering something. Tom falls asleep while reading the kids their bedtime stories. Not kidding. So, yeah, obviously it comes as no surprise that my kids know that Dad is not a reader.

So, all of your non-readers out there, the ones who think that they can teach the importance of reading by telling their kids to read and sending them to school to do it. Know this, non-reader: Your children notice. They see how you spend your time. They see what is important to you. Now, don't worry, you do not have to be a nerdy bookworm like myself to create an environment that celebrates reading. You can do so by providing opportunities for your kids to discover new books. You can do so by reading; even if what you read is the newspaper or a magazine with topics that interest you. No matter what, your kids need an example.

I realized just how important that lesson is today. Tom is reading Treasure Island right now. Well, he was reading it this weekend in Colorado. I think he started it so that he would have something to do on the train when he rode home Sunday night. Whatever the reason for picking up the book, it was important. Today, while at Target, Lily dug through a dollar bin of classic books that have been adapted to her reading level. She picked Treasure Island. She picked it because she wanted to read the same book as Daddy.

 I think that is an excellent example of just how much our children pay attention to what we do. It's another example of how reading and books help to connect people. Our children are always finding ways to connect with their parents. What better way than a good book?

the next chapter

Reading chapter books with my kids is something I've looked forward to since the day Lily was born...Actually, that might not be true. I think I've looked forward to reading chapter books to my kids before I'd had any kids at all. I love children's books, but there is something magical about reading a book with your kids that you can both gain something from, a book that your child has grown mature enough to understand on a new level.

Recently, Lily and I have started reading the long, lovely chapter books that I'd been dreaming about. Lily became so engrossed in the first two that she would bring me the books on Saturday afternoons and ask me to read. The second Harry Potter book so captured her imagination that when I checked out the audio book for a long car ride, she brought the tape in the house to continue the story after we'd arrived home. She got up early to finish it and find out what happened in the story. I am so excited by this hunger for stories and reading.

Our most recent book was Anne of Green Gables. I wasn't sure if she would understand everything, so I got the more elementary version of the book. ***Spoiler Alert*** I was wrong about her understanding and emotional connection to the book. I was shocked when I read her the chapter where Matthew, the man who had adopted Anne, died. I was shocked because when I said the words, "And then Matthew died." Lily burst into tears. She sobbed for several minutes and the tears continued as I finished the book. She was so connected to the story and the characters that she was truly sad. She asked me why Matthew couldn't have died sooner in the book, when she didn't know him and like him so much. Why did they make him die?

The experience of reading that book together opened some discussions about hard topics, bonded us in a new way and gave us a history of hard topics that will allow me to bring the hard stuff up again later.

Reading to my kids is my favorite part of most days. Now that Lily and I are reading alone together every night, it has given us something to share, a quiet time to be together. I am cherishing the time and hoping that this is one of the routines from her childhood that she remembers most and continues into adulthood.

What are some chapter books that you enjoyed during your childhood? I would love some recommendations!