Not “interest” as in I tell him it’s time to go read and he goes off on his merrily, traipsing way with a smile in his heart. “Interest” as in he regularly pulls down Maj Tom’s large Calvin and Hobbes books and sits on the floor for an hour. “Interest” as in I say, “Come on, let’s go read a chapter of Harry Potter,” and he scrambles to the couch. “Interest” as in, after pouting and stomping, he sits down with The Dragon of Doom and reads for an hour—and is able to tell me what the story is about!
We went to the library Tuesday. The Creature will be nine in September. Tuesday, for the first time ever, he pulled down all chapter books; no picture books. In fact, it was last week that, for the first time ever, he took one chapter book. (“He took it” meaning I found it, showed it to him, and he allowed as to how it was all right.)
When lamenting to friends that the Creature had reading comprehension issues, their advice was near-universal—read him the Classics. Classics, here, typically means Lewis and Tolkien and Ingalls-Wilder. Well, we tried The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, and he was bored to tears. We’ve also read Magic Treehouse—and I was bored to tears. I don’t know if we just hit the right age or what, but I started reading The Sorcerer’s Stone at the beginning of the summer and he is eating it up. Very few pictures; long chapters; doesn’t matter. Maybe his internal movie screen has finally developed the film.
I present, for your perusal, the literary evolution of a boy. Most of these books, I read to him first and then he started choosing them for his quiet reading time.
The first thing he would read to himself was probably Time for Tom and God Made You Special (which I had memorized at one point).
Next, we move on to Captain Underpants. What can you say about Captain Underpants? I think it’s funny. (Except the couple of books on snot. My allergies are too bad to appreciate two entire books dedicated to phlegm.)
Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot has the same author. I find it ironic that he went from George and Harold to Ricky. George and Harold are sarcastic and somewhat crude. Ricky’s very sweet, and the writing is simpler.
How to Train Your Dragon hits about here. I have yet to read How to be a Pirate, although he has. I consider that to be a bittersweet success.
Throughout the years, the Creature has picked up the odd Calvin and Hobbes book and looked through the pictures. But here we enter into hard-core C&H. I also introduced him to Liō (no; not the Libertarian International Organization) in the paper’s comic section. Over the last few months, this has led to an interest in all the comics, especially Sunday’s, of course, because they’re in color. Although, I don’t think he’s really gotten into the kids’ X-Men comic book I got for him. I think it’s still a little too over his head.
I got him Dragon of Doom last week because it had big type, a few pictures, and…well…dragons. He ate it up. I can’t even believe it! Tuesday I found two more in the series. He chose a book on Frankenstein and something else.
And then there’s Harry Potter. He checked out his first HP from school two years ago (despite the fact we have them all). Since it came out, he’s claimed that The Half-Blood Prince is his favorite book—although he’s never read it. We have friends who wouldn’t let their kids see The Lord of the Rings movies until they’d read the books. An admirable goal, but I didn’t think the kid would have the dedication to the books he’d need to get through them unless he watched the movies first. So I made this rule about HP, instead. While it is true he wants to read the book, now, so he can see the first movie, that hasn’t been his priority. Tuesday night we read the chapter on the Mirror of Erised where Harry sees his parents and Dumbledore admits his longing for socks. The Creature’s response? “That was a sweet and funny chapter.” I think this is the first multi-installment book I’ve read to him that he has not asked to quit.
These are his go-to books and series. He has had others from time to time that have caught his eye, but these are the stories he’ll pull down and read for himself. Granted, they are influenced by my preferences. I’m sure he sees my enthusiasm and is somewhat drawn to the things that make me happy in some primitive-sociological-survival way. But, sadly, the list does not include many of my favorites. Richard Scarry? He could take it or leave it. Shel Silverstein? He doesn’t really get it. Even Dr. Seuss is chosen only for special occasions. And, no, he has shown no interest in Kipling, although he will watch the Chuck Jones videos. (The Redwall books are on the shelf, waiting for a time when the thicknesses and font sizes aren’t quite so intimidating.)
This makes me think about my own attempt at writing for his age group. I need to pull that down and ask him what he thinks. He can track more than I thought he could, and he catches nuances I didn’t expect. I’m not surprised he’s attracted to humor, but I didn’t expect him to be so enthralled with tension in the story.
I’m just so glad he’s getting there, though. One friend told me her son didn’t click on reading comprehension until seventh grade. She spent eight years reading Narnia to him before he caught on. One biggie I’ve found is I’m not going to read a book to him that I find boring as well.
And I’m not going to make my almost-nine year old boy sit through Little House on the Prairie.
Kersley Fitzgerald actually wrote this article a week ago and has probably completed the first Harry Potter book with the Creature. She also apologizes to Google Reader users as she hit the wrong button on the 17th, so you got this article early.
Posts
