Mommy, Read to Me

“Mommy, read to me” is a phrase I hear maybe fifty times a day. In addition to the guaranteed three at bedtime, I probably cave and read another fifteen to twenty books daily to my three year old. It’s not that I mind. A love of reading is something I definitely want to cultivate in my children. But recently Cassidy has become aware that the letters on the page combine to mean something, that the words stay the same every time it’s read. That means a lot of sounding out, and keeping pace with a little finger that indicates each word individually. And I can forget about skipping over things ( I personally hate reading aloud books about dinosaurs, with all their unpronouncable names, and would just pass over all the technical bits. The kids love these books, though, the drier the better).

What this means is that a good portion of my day is spent reading children’s books aloud, so I thought I’d give them a bit of attention here. I love fishing through the children’s room in the library, looking for good new reads. I love reading old childhood favorites aloud. And, as we all know, I love the sound of my own voice.

Keep in mind- reading to kids is a much richer experience for everyone involved (the child in question, the reader, other people in the room listening to Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? for the eighteenth night in a row) if you look for books that flow smoothly, and lend themselves well to dramatic presentation.

For example, Cass has suddenly fallen head over heels for Dr. Seuss and P.D. Eastman. These are a lot of fun to read! I made the “mistake” early on, of incorporating lots of silly voices and singing; now I have to do that every time. This eliminates any chance of pawning off the reading to Daddy or older brothers, becuase “they don’t do it right“. That’s OK. There is nothing better than a kid who wants to hear a story over and over, that’s how they learn to read; more importantly, that’s how they want to learn to read. Cass “reads” to her plush animals all the time, and sometimes to real animals too.

Even if you don’t have pushy, rhyme-addicted kids, I highly recommend reading a Dr. Seuss, any Dr. Seuss, out loud every once in a while. Whether it’s to your dog, your houseplants, or your mailman, do it just for a general sense of well-being:

There- doesn’t that feel good?

On the flip side, Cass will want a book because it has a character from one of her TV shows on the cover. Sometimes I would buy them from Scholastic because they’re inexpensive, and I want to support the Scholastic program in the classroom. Don’t do it! These books are selling a product, and that product is not reading. I know many people say that it doesn’t matter what kids read, as long as they’re reading, but I whole-heartedly disagree. These books are often nothing but synopses of an episode, the language is overly simplistic, they do not flow well at all, and I don’t like reading them. These books should be considered like candy; pretty and fun, OK for once in a while, but really not good for you. Exceptions to this, of course, are character books where the books came first: the Max and Ruby books by Rosemary Wells and H.A. Rey’s Curious George spring to mind. I still buy from Scholastic, but I stick to titles I recognize.

Anyway, here’s the Top 10 for this week:

1. The Pigeon Wants a Puppy, by Mo Willems
2. BooBoo by Olivier Dunrea
3. David Gets in Trouble, by David Shannon
4. What Makes a Rainbow? by Betty Schwartz
5. Inside Mouse, Outside Mouse by Lindsay Barrett George
6. Froggy Learns to Swim, by Jonathan London
7. Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman
8. Time to Pee! by Mo Willems
9. Green Eggs and Ham, by Dr. Seuss
10. Max’s Dragon Shirt, by Rosemary Wells

I think I’ve read Green Eggs and Ham twenty times in five days. But I vividly remember the crushing disappointment I felt as a child when my Uncle George- the only adult in my life that would read to me- refused to read it to me “just one more time“. So, I will read it here and there, I will read it anywhere, I just hope she moves on to another book soon.

I am torn between just posting on this site, reviews on books that the kids love, or that I love to read to them, or actually launching another site entirely for kids’ books. Thoughts?