(a FFF post)
My nearly 8-year-old daughter and I don't always get along, and clearly this is my fault. She is adorable and funny and responsible and amazing. She also has a tendency to occasionally crawl underneath my skin and I respond by yelling at her. Less effective.
I have resolved to remedy this. Starting with The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. I had been reflecting on our relationship when suddenly it came to me that I should read to her. Mind you my daughter reads perfectly, and she reads for hours at bedtime, so I wasn't sure how it would go down. Would she like it? Would she hate it? The Hobbit is far longer than any other book she's read to date. Does she have the attention span?
She was initially unsure what to think about the whole thing. I plopped down on her bed and announced I was going to read this book with her. Her eyes got really big and she said, "Tonight?!!" I laughed. "No, not the WHOLE THING tonight." She let out a sigh of relief.
The first chapter is a little slow, but she stuck it out. She's seen the cartoon movie, so she asked when it would get to the GOOD parts. I promised it would, and that it'd be even better than the movie. I coaxed her into continuing by promising her that there was a man who turns into a bear! On the second day of reading, while we were still in the first chapter, she said, "Are you SURE there's a man who turns into a bear?" I smiled.
The day after I started reading her The Hobbit, I took her to a doctor's appointment. To make small talk while killing time, the doctor asked her if she liked to read. She said she did (and she does). He then asked her what she was reading and to my surprise she said, "I'm reading The Hobbit with my mom."
The doctor, of course, was duly impressed by that, but more importantly, I knew that she was enjoying it. Even if the first chapter was a little slow. During the second night of reading I told her that if she didn't end up liking the book, I wouldn't ever read her another one. Very quickly she responded, "No, Mom! I like the book!"
Really, she likes that it's time for just us. At this point, 100 pages into the adventure, I think she really is liking the book, too. But mostly, she likes that I'm reading it to her.
I told her that we would alternate who picks the books we read. So, any suggestions for me on a good book to read with my daughter?
6 comments:
Are you kidding me!!, okay, here's my list
a little princess
caddie woodlawn
number the stars
the great brain
anne of green gables (that is totally a joke, though miciah might actually like it even if we didn't)
ella enchanted
book of a thousand days
hmmm i might come up with some more later
r
oh yeah, and Princess Academy.
I also love The Outsiders, and East by Edith Pattou..it's about a girl and a polar bear and their adventures. I have them... My mom read A Wrinkle in Time to me when I was little...have you read it? What do you think. Not sure I would suggest it, b/c I read it recently and didn't like it as much as used to.
I read the first 3 pages of Wrinkle in Time and that's all I could take. I think I was 13. So I should give it another shot. ... A new possibility that has opened up to me, after posting this and getting people's responses, is to read a book with her that I've also never read. That'd be an adventure for both of us! So thanks for the suggestions! I'm compiling a list.
Budge and I have been reading the Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites series with our boys. They are books that Budge loved reading as a boy and so far, so good.
Alessia and I are starting "The Secret Garden." She loves the broadway play soundtrack and wants to read the book. It's been years since I read it so I'll let you know if it's good. Funny how some books you loved as a child aren't nearly as good as an adult.
I don't know any great novels, but seeing as how Miciah is so smart, maybe you should consider reading biographies, history, or science related books with her (adjusted for her age level, of course).
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