Wednesday, March 3, 2010

The Reading Monster


I have always enjoyed reading fiction books. I can't remember a time when I didn't enjoy reading, or a time in my life when I didn't read. I can even think back about a certain book and remember exactly what age/grade I was in when I read it. One of my favorite classes that I took when I was in college was Children's Literature. It was a required education course and it was like heaven for me. Not only was I introduced to a whole bunch of books that had come out since I had gotten out of grade school, we were also assigned to read about 30 chapter books and write book reports! I LOVED IT!

Well, anyway, this post is not about me, actually, it is about Skyler. We started reading chapter books with him about a year ago. He got hooked on The Magic Tree House series, which by the way is very good. We also read a couple of Captain Underpants books, these are not that good by the way (but they are funny). We have also read Charlotte's Web, Dinosaur Cove, and Zoobreak. I had told a friend about a really great series of books that I had, that I thought her daughter would enjoy (I loved them and so did my students) and she talked to her daughter about them and she said she would like to try them. When I was digging them out of my sacred box of books, I saw some of the awesome chapter books that I had picked up when taking Kiddie Lit. I went through and made a pile of some that I thought Sklyer would enjoy, showed them to him, talked about each one and let him decide if he wanted to read any of them.

He was so excited, I couldn't believe it! He made a fantastic choice of Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. We started reading it and the boy could not get enough. He wanted me to wake him up early so we could read a lot before school. He would come home from school and want to read it. It was non-stop. I loved it. It is one of my favorite books of all time, and perfect for him. We finished that book in a week!! We sat for more than once for over an hour and a half reading that book!!!! When we were done, he asked, what's next? There are a few books about Mr. Brian Robeson and we will be starting them soon. But first, a Magic Tree House or too, because they aren't quite as intense and man, my voice needs a break!

2 comments:

Rachel said...

That is so cool! I loved that book too! I think he is a great author! So glad Skyler likes to read. That's one I wish I would have like more when I was a kid. I love it now and still don't read enough.

Kathy said...

I am not sure where you live, but Gary Paulsen is going on an 8-city tour this April. You can check out his website for the specifics about where he will be!