Chapter books

A little over a month ago we started reading chapter books with Luke. We started where I think everyone starts, E.B. White's Charlotte's Web. I think that every first grade class that I have ever set foot in has been reading Charlotte's Web. The first class that I taught in even sung the song from the movie as part of their morning routine. It was something to hear their squeaky voices chime in with "twinkle, sparkle, let a little sunshine in" and it certainly is true that you'll be on the right side when you're on the bright side. Luke was a little upset at first that we couldn't just jump around and read all the pages with pictures. Then I explained that you have to listen to the words to make the pictures in your mind. This resonated and he quickly adjusted to just listening.

After we finished Charlotte we rented the new version of the movie. Luke HATED the spider in the movie. Somehow the cartoon spider in the original was much more tolerable. I kind of agree.

Then we moved onto Mr. Popper's Penguins a book that Nat remembered reading as a child and which made a mysterious appearance in our basement (neither one of us knows how a discarded library copy made its way onto our kids book shelf). It was darling and it spawned all sorts of Internet searches about arctic regions and penguin behavior.

After that adventure was complete I wandered down to see what else I thought Luke could understand and enjoy. My eyes fell on Little House in the Big Woods. Oh, how I love Laura Ingalls Wilder! I read and reread these books so many times as a little girl (Nat and I were talking about this seemingly feminine phenomenon and he said that instead of reading and rereading books he just lit things on fire repeatedly-- is this what being the mother of boys means?). The memories of these books have flooded back as Luke listens to me read these familiar stories. These characters formed such a huge part of my reality as a young girl. Luke has quickly fallen in love with Laura and Mary and the "olden days". We tore through the Big Woods in three days, thanks to church cancellation. We then read Plum Creek (yes, we skipped Little House on the Prairie-- Luke was really interested in the dugout house on the cover of Plum Creek) and are now more than halfway through Farmer Boy. This is the perfect way to finish winter-- hours cuddled up under the down comforter reading about blizzards and hard work. Our reading might slow down as we thaw out (maybe by June?) and spend more time outside, but for now we are content to spend our days with Laura.