Morning Read-alouds

I finished reading Charlotte's Web to Xander. We have a little set-up that makes me quite happy. I read aloud to Xander at breakfast time when he is still sleepy, and I get to choose whatever book we read at this time. He chooses what we read at bedtime. This way, with little fuss, I get to expose him to whatever books I think would be a great influence. And he gets to be read whatever bedtime story he wants. (Or he reads it to us.)

Xander was reluctant about Charlotte's Web all along. At first, he didn't like the spider on the cover. I had to invoke the rule a few times: "Well, I get to pick what we read in the morning." Throughout, he listened intently, but every so often he would say, "Ahh, I HATE Charlotte's Web!" As I said, though, he listened intently. It is a wonderfully written book with major themes in it. The specter of death looms over more than one major character; friends make sacrifices to help others. Not everyone has a spectacular worthy disposition. These are normal people and animals with flaws or, at least, traits that are not worthy of high praise. It was probably Xander's first book with a real-seeming death in it. When I was older than Xander is now, maybe ten years old, I remember sobbing over the ending to one of E.B. White's books. He's good. I thought it was worth it to have Xander hear this book. We'll see what he has to say about the book in a year or two.

I have many books in mind that I want to read to Xander. (Nick is starting to listen to them, too.) Some will be met with resistance. For the next book, I decided to go with something he might get excited about. I brought home a couple of books by Edward Eager and one by Roald Dahl. He chose the first one to read, Knight's Castle, about some regular children in the 1950s who stumble into a magic adventure involving - you guessed it - knights and a castle. This is also a well-written book imbued with the childhood promise that anything, just anything, might happen. I thought it might capture Xander's imagination, and it has.

He was happy to start it last night. The chapters are Harry Potter-ish, a little over 15 minutes apiece. This morning, I woke him by saying I would read the next chapter to him while he was waking up. (He had a somewhat late night and I knew he would be groggy.) As we moved into the dining room for breakfast, still reading, he said, "Mom! I am picturing what might happen in the book in my head!"

Yes! I picked well. There are several other similar books, even involving some of the same characters, by this author.

While I did little things to get Nick ready, Xander stood by the book, looking at it, just waiting for me to come back and read a few more sentences. Now that's a good book.