This weekend at a Halloween party, I met a teacher. She was VERY gung-ho about teaching reading to her 4th and 5th grade students. It was lovely to see how passionate she was about the topic. One interesting activity she did with her students is to have them all think about the first book they remember being read to them and the first book they read all alone. The class became quite animated as they recounted these favorite books such as Hop on Pop. They then surveyed the teachers with the same two questions.
I wonder which book Mirette will remember. I picture her as a teenager reading books to a kid she's babysitting and getting a warm fuzzy feeling in her heart because we read that book together.
I have a plan to facebook the teacher and get her list and I will definitely post it on here.
Meanwhile, it got me thinking. Do I remember being read to by my mom or my dad? I don't really, but I know books were an important part of our childhood. I even dug up this old photo of my mom reading to my sister and I. Yep, I'm the one with the crazy hair. I wish I could make out the book title. Even though I don't have any visceral memory of the books we read together, I do often read books to Mira that are so warm and familiar. I can just feel my mom stroking my hair and soothing me to sleep even though she is all the way in Florida.
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
BACK TO THE GRIND
Tis the end of a great summer. My husband Steve goes back to work and I, um, go right on being a mom this year.
Our family has a sweet little bedtime ritual. I do pajamas, brush teeth, and read three books to Mirette. We share a family hug. Then I wait while Mirette picks out a book for Steve to read to her before he puts her to bed. If she picks out a book he hates, I laugh at him (all in good fun of course).
You see, so many kids' books are really horrible. The rhymes are boring and trite: Couplets like "Did you go to the butterfly ball? Let's go together in the fall." So when there is a good book – one that sings, one that flows, one that has stunning pictures – I notice.
When I am reading a book to Mirette, I always look at the publishing date and read the bios of the author and illustrator aloud. I think about how old I was when the book was published and sometimes I am instantly transported right back to the age I was when I first read the book. This concept I shall officially call INP—instant nostalgia picture or prose.
I started to wonder—What does it take to make a quality picture book? Who are the personalities behind the words and pictures? Why are some books so fun and others so boring? Why do some characters jump off the page, becoming dear friends to Mirette, and others slip into anonymity?
I did a little bit of research, read Margaret Wise Brown's autobiography; looked up websites on children's literature; Wikipediaed Ludwig Bemelmans, the author of the Madeline books, began to place holds on books at the library, and came to the realization that the topic is very interesting.
I also noticed that both Steve and I are wordsmiths. We love words. We play with words, embrace them, and are silly with them. We have imparted this love to Mirette. Our little two year old plays with language and is making up crazy words for everything these days. (For example, we just went on a carousal ride and Mirette named our horses Lono, Lonu, and Nonu.)
So I decided to write a blog about our year of reading. How we use language, books that turn us on, illustrators and authors, interesting links and, well, wherever our journey of reading takes us. I hope that you have fun with us and find some interesting books along the way!
Our family has a sweet little bedtime ritual. I do pajamas, brush teeth, and read three books to Mirette. We share a family hug. Then I wait while Mirette picks out a book for Steve to read to her before he puts her to bed. If she picks out a book he hates, I laugh at him (all in good fun of course).
You see, so many kids' books are really horrible. The rhymes are boring and trite: Couplets like "Did you go to the butterfly ball? Let's go together in the fall." So when there is a good book – one that sings, one that flows, one that has stunning pictures – I notice.
When I am reading a book to Mirette, I always look at the publishing date and read the bios of the author and illustrator aloud. I think about how old I was when the book was published and sometimes I am instantly transported right back to the age I was when I first read the book. This concept I shall officially call INP—instant nostalgia picture or prose.
I started to wonder—What does it take to make a quality picture book? Who are the personalities behind the words and pictures? Why are some books so fun and others so boring? Why do some characters jump off the page, becoming dear friends to Mirette, and others slip into anonymity?
I did a little bit of research, read Margaret Wise Brown's autobiography; looked up websites on children's literature; Wikipediaed Ludwig Bemelmans, the author of the Madeline books, began to place holds on books at the library, and came to the realization that the topic is very interesting.
I also noticed that both Steve and I are wordsmiths. We love words. We play with words, embrace them, and are silly with them. We have imparted this love to Mirette. Our little two year old plays with language and is making up crazy words for everything these days. (For example, we just went on a carousal ride and Mirette named our horses Lono, Lonu, and Nonu.)
So I decided to write a blog about our year of reading. How we use language, books that turn us on, illustrators and authors, interesting links and, well, wherever our journey of reading takes us. I hope that you have fun with us and find some interesting books along the way!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)