Little Reader

Addison and I have been having a ball reading books together. It's been a teacher's dream! ;) We've been reading together since she was practically in the womb, and books are a part of her life. She already has more books that some classroom libraries that I've seen. Pretty sad statement about some of our schools, huh?

As a primary teacher, when kids come to me, they're "reading lives" are so different from each other. Some kids are book lovers from the get-go, reading at home has been ingrained in them from the start. These kids see mom and dad read, and they consider themselves "readers" at a very young age. There are others that I see who aren't that interested in books, for whatever reason...it might mean that they were interested in other things like running wild outside, or playing with blocks, or dolls, etc. The cool thing is, when both sets of kids are exposed to a rich literacy environment in school, with language, stories and poetry filling the air...MOST kids become enthralled with books, regardless of their early exposure. This is the case in primary years, and things can change if there is still no reading support at home as they get older. In Addison's case, she will walk in the door to Kindergarten having a complete fascination with books. Her teachers won't have to convince her!

Part of the lure of books is also the time spent snuggling up and reading with Mommy (and Daddy on rare occasions, if she'll let him read to her!). This is our special time together, and we both look forward to it everyday. If Chris says to her "Can Daddy read you books today?" She'll immediately say "No, maybe Mommy read me books." And on the chance occasion that she gives in, she always tells him that he's not reading it right, or that's not the right tune to the song, etc.! She's very particular!

Right now we're in the midst of a mini "Book Study" of sorts. We're reading every Max and Ruby book known to man. Rosemary Wells is the author, and she has written literally hundreds of children's books, but Ruby and Max are probably her most famous. Addison LOVES Max, and we've been giggling at how silly and mischievous Max is across ALL of the books. We've also noticed that Ruby is pretty bossy in all of the books. But in the end, she loves her little brother, Max.

We've also read most of the Oliva books, by Ian Falconner. Olivia is another bossy big sister...do you see a theme here? :)

I wonder if Will is going to be such a book fanatic like his sister? He loves to sit with us and gnaw on his hand while I read to Addison, so maybe he's soaking it up. Actually, now that I think about it, with his bossy big sister, he's not going to have a choice!