Even though I don’t have children of my own I read to the kids in my neighborhood and also run a “writers” group.
Byzantine, you are an angel! If only there were a million more like you…sigh.
I read constantly to my four year old son and my five year old niece. It’s not only good for them intellectually, but it fosters parent-child bonding and creativity. One of the kids biggest treats is having a slumber party and getting to crawl into the “big bed” with me & my husband and reading five or six books (plus plenty of snuggles and cuddles).
I also think that it is important to let your kids read to you. Mine are just starting, but you should see how their little faces light up after they’ve “read” me a book. In fact, my niece has started making her own books. She draws the pictures, I write down the words for her. Who knows, in another 20 years she might be a famous novelist or poet!
My mother is a former librarian and both of my parents are avid readers. They read to me from day one. I still have a little recipe box with index cards for each book I read between the ages of 8 and 12 (or so).
My fourth grade teacher, Miss Fay, read the first three Chronicles of Narnia books to us, in class. She also read The Island of the Blue Dolphins, and A Wrinkle in Time.
Between my parents, Miss Fay and series like Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden, I became an avid reader early. The series helped me realize that there was more to literature than the same plot over and over… Then came the experimentation (which hasn’t stopped). I discovered Piers Anthony and the fantasy genre at the age of 13, James Herriot at 14, teen romance novels at 15, Stephen King at 16, Clive Barker at 19, Pat Conroy at 22, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle at 23, John Irving at 25, Toni Morrison at 28… There are many more whom I cannot list, because every year I find at least one new author to love.
I also belong to a book club. Hey! I’m going to start up a thread on that!
Men are from Mars, women are from Venus, dogs are from Pluto. - Anonymous
man reading sux its a waste of time TV IS MUCH BETER!!!
Sorry, just a little illustration of my Trolls Don’t Read hypothisis.
One of my first memories was the door that opened in my head when I learned to comprehend the written word. It felt like a gift from God. I was a hyperactive child, and TV was simply too slow for me. With reading, I could go at my own pace.
I’ve read my entire life, and I plan to die with a book in my hand.
Knowing me, whenever I have kids, I’ll have read to them while they’re still in the womb.
tatertot – thank you, but it really wasn’t my idea. I think it was Christopher’s. He’s seven. His parents are extremely weird so he spends a lot of time over here playing with my dog and being around a “normal” adult. I think it’s about the only time I’ve been called normal! And you would be the first to call me an angel!
It started when he brought over a spooky story book and we read it on my front lawn. Within minutes, several other kids showed up and sat down. Then more. Then J.J. said that those stories weren’t scary. He’s about 10. He said he’d write one that would REALLY scare us. That’s how it started.
I think most of you know I write romance. Let me tell you, writing kid’s stories is a lot harder!
And thanks for the heads up on that book. I’m sure that Love you Forever is it. I didn’t find it creepy… perhaps I should re-read it with a more critical eye before I comment further.
Yep, gonna go out and buy books off the internet. You know, the first one was free… And now I’m into a three thousand dollar a year habit!
I love to read and can’t imagine not reading. I must admit that when I first got my computer, my reading time drastically decreased but now I’m back to normal (so to speak).
My first grade teacher, Mrs. Boone, read Charlotte’s Web to the class. I distinctly remember her telling us to bring kleenex for one of the installments. A teacher in junior high would read us Edgar Allen Poe short stories. She was so good at it that I would get goosebumps.
I also remember reading Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew and Enid Blyton books.
My parents are both avid readers and read to the three of us constantly. I loved to snuggle next to Mom or Dad and read with them. I also loved reading with the kids I was babysitting. The funny part was that if you ever dared to skip a part of the story, they would tell you!
As a result, I’m a translator and spend a significant part of my workday reading and researching… and getting distracted! There’s nothing like a good book!
The Three Investigators were Jupiter Jones (the smart one), Bob Somebodyoranother (the studious one), and Pete Crenshaw (the athletic one). They were great (better than the Hardy Boys IMO). Yes, I was a fan.
OK this belongs in the Crushes on Fictional Characters thread, but Jupiter Jones was a major BABE! Have you read the "new " versions? They got rid of Hitchcock, and are much cornier than the older ones.
I’ll be there
Where I’ll teach what I’ve been taught
And I’ve been taught…
Kids are more likely to learn to read from computer games these days. We read, but it’d mostly a bedtime activity. The kids demand 3 stories each and they count them.
Re Jenny and the Cat Club: It was a series of books about a shy little black cat named Jenny, who lived with a retired sea captain in old New York and never went anywhere without her red scarf. She had two adopted brothers, Checkers (a Siamese) and Edward (a tiger cat who wrote poetry). They were all members of the Cat Club, along with Mr. President, Concertina the secretary, Madame Butterfly the Persian (who played the nose flute), Macaroni the inventor, Florio the fancy dancer, Romulus and Remus the twins, and Sinbad and the Duke the alley cats. There were also several honorary members: Pickles the fire cat, Jack Tar the ship’s cat, Tom the hotel cat, and of course Jenny’s owner Captain Tinker, who was one of the few humans who understood cat talk. Starting to bring back any memories?
Now, if only I remembered The Faerie Queene in half as much detail, I would have done better on my MA exams…
“I can call spirits from the vasty deep.”
“Why, so can I, or so can any man;
But will they come when you do call for them?”
This is one of the areas where I can really hail my dad. Not only did he read to my sister and me, he one-upped that by making a habit of making up stories for us. He’d take fairy tales and make up his own versions to include characters named Kirsten and Valerie. One of my personal favorites was “Ugly Ella.” instead of Cinderella. In that story, the basic plot was that the ugly, mean, step-sister (Ugly Ella) tried to make her two smart, wonderful steps, Kirsten and Valerie, miserable, but of course our namesakes won out in the end.
Another one he did was “JACK! And the Beanstalk.” [He shouted the name Jack everytime it came up] Jack met Kirsten and Valerie and they led him on all of his adventures.
The best thing about these stories was that he details changed every time he told them. We’d beg him to tell a particular story, and it was never the same twice.
I really believe that this led me to not only love to read, but to love to write as well. He encouraged us to appreciate literature in addition to showing us the joy of creating something of one’s own.
In addition to that, Daddy gave me Cecil’s first and second books, after he was done with them. I was about 12 at the time he gave me the first one, but by the time the 3rd one came out I’d bought it myself, with my allowance, before he finished it.
Thanks, Byz and everyone. I don’t often get the chance to really appreciate my parents for all the gifts they gave me.
I agree completely with Ukelele Ike’s point on the Shel Silversten’s " The Giving Tree" I first read it at 12 or so and thought, " What the heck, this kid is greedy." As I got older, I couldn’t figure out why this book was so popular. Silverstein created a generation of parents who THINK that is the way to parenting: giving your kid everything instead of letting them stand on their own. why isn’t this book on a banned list?
To answer the OP’s question: one of the reasons I wanted children was so I could share my love of books and word with them. I’ve read to my son since he was a newborn ( sometimes Mommy’s books, but don’t tell him that) and now at 18 months, all I have to say is, " Book Time" and he races upstairs, crawls on the rocker and waits for me to catch up to him and read. Something tells me that our daughter, due in February, since hearing the Cat in the Hat amongst others countless times in utero, will probably come out clutching a library card.
Oh, anyone looking for an out of print book, I found a pretty good websight www.bibliofind.com Give it a go for that old classic that you have to have.
Glad to hear I’m not the only one who thinks the Giving Tree is a sick book. I mean, sure, it makes me cry and all, but though the whole thing I think the Boy is a major asshole. He never gives anything back! He never even seems grateful.
I am surprised that Where the Wild Things Are came out in the 70s… I would have guessed it was older than that. it is such a classic, I had no idea it was new when I was a kid.
Oh man, Encyclopedia Brown! How could I forget about him?
Did anyone take advantage of that book club at school - I think it was called Scholastic? I used to bring the little catalog home, spend all my allowance (and then some) on that stuff.
My sister in law is a first grade teacher and I get to relieve the total joy and thrill of the Scholastic Book Fair’s when their little magazines come out. I’m her biggest client. Problem is is that I have about 400 k-4th grade reading books. I’d like to have the upper grades book fair magazine when it comes in but she’s always forgetting.
I had a really wonderful reading-to-kids experience a few years ago. I was in Border’s with a friend, and we were in the kids books section (we were both buying gifts; neither of us has kids). We had selected some likely candidates, and sat down at one of the little tables to look them over.
We’re sitting there, looking at books, and a guy comes in with his daughter, who looked to be maybe 4 yo. He told her to pick out some books, and he would be right back (he went to the bathroom or something; he didn’t leave the store).
She picks out some books from the display, comes over to us, hands me a book and says “Read this to me.” It wasn’t rude or imperious; to her, the only reason there were grown-ups in the kid’s book section was so that there would be someone there who could read, and we were the most likely candidates for this activity. She was almost reading on her own. The clerk and my friend both thought it was sidesplitting, although her father was a little taken aback.
Never attribute to malice anything that can be attributed to stupidity.
– Unknown
Shirley Ujest did type: Oh, anyone looking for an out of print book, I found a pretty good website www.bibliofind.com Give it a go for that old classic that you have to have.
Even better are a couple of meta-search sites – www.addall.com and www.bookfinder.com – which search multiple sites for the same book.
There’s nothing like a good book!