Many times in my 12 years of motherhood, I have attempted to read books aloud to my children. I’m not talking about picture books. The kids always love picture books and will sit still for those. Or rather they’ll climb all over me and fight about who has the largest portion of my lap while I try to reach around them all to turn pages and speak loud enough to be heard over the din. But I wanted to be able to share more than picture books. I wanted to read novels. Fun stories that they aren’t yet able to read for themselves, but which I hope they will enjoy. Heretofore I have had only limited success.
Such reading is very difficult if there is a toddler or baby around to object to everyone paying attention to anything not the toddler. But now for the first time since I became a parent, I have no baby or toddler. The youngest of my kids is now old enough to pay attention to a story with no pictures. However none of them are old enough to consistently sit still and pay attention if they have nothing to keep their hands busy. I solve that problem by reading during bedtime snack. I throw food in front of them and then hurry to read aloud while their hands and mouths are busy. Sometimes we only get a single page read. Other times we make it through a whole chapter.
The kids accepted this new habit of mom’s without objection. They listened to Peter Pan some interest, but when I began reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, they began to be enthusiastic. Now they come running for snack and Harry Potter. I expect that we’ll make our way through all of the books. At least I intend to try. I’m interested to see if they remain as enthusiastic when we’re reading the books for which they have not already seen movies. We may take some breaks from Harry Potter to read other books. But the key is that we’ve found an enjoyable ritual that my three younger kids all love. Kiki does not sit and listen. She prefers to wait until I am done reading. Then she snatches the book and reads the entire thing all by herself. Then she reads the next Potter book and the next. Since I’ve started reading Sorceror’s Stone, Kiki has gone through the whole series twice.
I’ve been having so much fun reading to the kids, that I decided to read aloud to Howard as well. I’ve been trying to find a way for me to participate in his painting hobby so that the time he spends painting can be together time for us. I don’t really want to paint myself. There isn’t room for two at his table anyway, but there is plenty of room away from the table. This evening I sat in the other chair and read aloud from Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians.
Reading aloud is fun. I just wish my voice didn’t wear out so quickly.
Hot tea with honey will help your throat.
When I was little, my father read to me some very long books with no pictures. I loved them but a used the time to draw pictures of what he was reading to me at first and then later I used the time to sew on a project. If you want to read more, having the kids illustrate the story might help them sit still long enough for a whole chapter and keep them interested and involved.
We were having the same trouble with my daughter, trying The Hobbit and The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, with no real interest from daughter. Harry Potter did it. We’ve just started the fifth book and, with book four, I’ve had to do some editing. Daughter isn’t that interested in the politics of Harry’s world and she’s a bit young for all the budding teen angst as well.
The other thing we’ve done is to alternate a Harry Potter book with another book. We’ve read Larklight, an American Girl story, and Dealing With Dragons.
I’m really looking forward to when daughter can’t wait to find out what happens next and secrets the book away at bed time.
Glad to hear Kiki reads. too many kids nowadays don’t. Of the ones I take to school, I think only 2 are habitual readers.
You might try the His Dark Materials books, by Philip Pullman – I thought they were excellent. For some reason, despite the fact that the alethiometer is most definitely not a compass, the first book, “Northern lights” was released as “the Golden Compass” in the US. Also, the film is to be called that. Since a lot of the action is in the far north and concerned with the aurora, this is doubly odd. But there’s no accounting for marketing types…
still, the books are good. Might be a bit old/advanced for the younger ones.
‘course, you may have already read ’em…
Now, see, when I was young (started ’em when I was about 4½), I read all Arthur Ransome’s “Swallows and Amazons” series of books, and I thought they were amazing. Dunno what modern kids would make of them, they’re a bit dated, although they offer an interesting look into the past, in some ways.
Family Reading
I am one of a family (both parents, siblings and spouse) of book addicts, so anything on books catches my eye instantly. My oldest is a toddler, so we are at least a year away from even attempting books without pictures. I’ll keep your suggestions in mind though – my son loves books but has far too much energy and far too little attention span. What really stood out was your reading aloud to your husband. I got really excited – I do that for my wife! It started with me reading in bed and laughing out loud every minute or two. Finally my wife demanded to know what was so funny, then insisted that I share it with her. So I started reading it to her – with unique voices for the narrator and all of the characters. I was reading MYTH Inc. in Action, and we both had a blast with me reading as Guido the bodyguard. For Christmas, she got a copy of the first MYTH book and a voucher for one chapter of reading aloud per night for one year. It’s been a great experience for both of us, though I’ve run short of new voices and accents for all of the new characters through the series. I’m glad you two enjoy books together as well.