The Reading Promise #1 of 31

The Reading Promise 

S.O.L. #1 of 31

A recent read has me searching for great read alouds to read with my 8 year old son.  

The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma was recommended to me by another teacher friend. 

 The Reading Promise is about a single father, librarian, raising his young daughter. At about age nine, they made a promise to read together each night for a hundred nights. That number came and went easily. So after setting a higher goal of one-thousand nights, this loving father-daughter pair continued reading aloud together faithfully, every single night, for over nine years. Their final read came as he settled her into her own college dorm.

Reading this book has solidified my resolve to read with my own children nightly!  It is easy to pick up one or several picture books to devour each night with my four year old daughter but holding my son’s reading interest and motivation has proven to be harder. I can see now that I was taking the wrong approach, I was insisting that he read to me each night which mostly turned into a lot  of begging, pleading, and prodding to get it done.  So now I have switched my focus to allow him to be captured by the story of a great book, to long to find out what happens next, to beg me to read just one more chapter to him.

My son and I just finished reading Hatchet.  It proved to be a great fit for my adventurous, outdoor-wise, bow shooting, hunter boy. There were a few scenes that I took the liberty to censor slightly since I feel they were  too graphic for his young little mind, especially one that is getting ready to sleep for the night.  But overall we both loved it and I loved the experience.  I can’t promise that there won’t be a night or two that we don’t get a chance to read. 

But what I can promise is 

that their will be more nights that he enjoys listening to great books,

that he will hear new vocabulary,

that he will ask and I will answer his readerly questions,

that he will close his eyes and visualize the vivid scenes painted by the author,

that he will make connections to great literature,

that we will have a share experience of stories,.

Isn’t that exactly what we want for budding readers?

The next book that we get to read together is Island of the Blue Dolphins. That is as far as my planned read aloud list goes. So if you have any suggestions let me know!!