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Caitlin has not had a particularly easy learning to read experience. Although she does love to have books read to her and will happily browse through non-novel type books of various types I've rarely seen her settle down with one and read for a significant length of time and she has read very few chapter books.
This afternoon Caitlin came out of class clutching a book and began enthusiastically telling me all about it. The book in question was The Magic Faraway Tree. I asked where she'd got it as it didn't look like a library book, turns out it's one of the many books I've bought over the years hoping to tempt her to try something that wasn't either Disney or the god-awful Rainbow Magic series, she'd found it in her room and decided to give it a go.
Once we got home she and Tom disappeared downstairs and a disquieting silence fell. I would normally be driven to investigate such a suspicious circumstance but I'm still feeling a little worn out so I decided to risk leaving them undisturbed. They've just come upstairs and it turns out that the nefarious activity they were engaged in was reading the book together, they took turns reading aloud to one another (yes, Tom's reading is as good as if not better than his 3 years older than him sister - he'll quite happily spend hours on the lounge with a pile of books).
I gotta tell you, when I heard Caitlin being full of excitement for a book which I remember loving at about her age I felt like doing the dance of joy. Hallelujah! I'll turn her into a reader yet!
Now I have to get them to do their homework. I can't help but feel the reading was time much better spent.
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9 comments:
I loved that book too!
Oh, Mim, I can so relate to this post. My eldest really struggled with reading and it broke my heart. I so longed to see him get the joy from books that I did as a child. For him it took a lot of work and the magic of JK Rowling to get him going. He fell in love with the Harry Potter series and has now read all of them.
It's taken him a while but he's there now! I still get a kick out of finding him curled up under the covers reading (even when he's supposed to be asleep!) Lately John Marsden has become his favourite and he is making his way through the "Tomorrow" series.
I hope this is the beginning of a life long love affair for Caitlin. I think I have Enid Blyton to thank for my passion for books!
OMG Mim - I still love that book series!!!! Moonface and those moonsnap cakes or whatever they were called. I must dig out my copies for Miss Em.
Like Lisa, I hope this is the beginning of a long love affair with books - and Enid Blyton can be blamed for my hours in the library in primary school as well!
Love Nat
The Magic Faraway Tree and The Wishing Chair were two of my favorite series as a kid. I still have the books somewhere.
I've always loved reading and being read to. My parents made me read on my own when I started telling the story before they'd even said the words when they were reading me my favorite books as I knew them all by heart.
I can TOTALLY relate!!
Jack loved books as a baby. And he learned to read when he was three. His reading vocabulary is excellent.
But he doesn't like to read!!!!
He has the ability, but not the interest. It can be so frustruating.
He'll rarely sit down and read a book. I'll get so excited and happy if I see him quietly looking at a book.
I try reading chapter books to him and he hates it. He acts like it's pure torture.
I do think maybe he's just not into fiction books. He does seem to like some nonfiction.
It's hard though.
I don't want to pressure him to be something he's not, but I do wish he could love books as much as I do.
Maybe one day???
YAY Blyton!!!!!
I have fond memories going horse reading the Faraway tree onmibus aloud to the kids I babysat when I was a teenager! Sometimes it would be a couple of months between babysitting gigs but the little 6 year old girl I looked after new EXACTLY where we were every time.
Liam has a HUGE appatite for books being read to him... I hope it grows into a passion later in life
It feels like a new initiate to a secret society, and it's all good. I am hanging out for Ben to learn to read, he seems to be fair to middling. On the plus side, he does appear to be comprehending what he can read, which is a good start. I have been discovering recently just how common it is for current teenagers to be able to read the words, but have absolutely zero ability to tell you what they just read. People younger than that seem to be being taught comprehension again...
Yeah, Caitlin's comprehension has lagged behind her reading vocab, we're getting there though and there's certainly a focus on it in school.
Tom's comprehension I have no concerns about, with him the difficulty is in getting him to stop telling you about what he's read. You know how he does it with TV and movies? It's just the same with books.
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