So, it seems like the hours of reading-aloud that I've done for so many years is now dwindling (sniff). But there are still so many good books out there that we haven't read yet, I say. We can't simply stop this tradition altogether!
Time to get creative about slipping a chapter in here and there when those six ears are available (I'm competing against sports, spring, and school, here - tough). I'm still learning when and where I can find those read-aloud times, but one I have found, and I won't be letting this one go (okay, some day I'll have to, but let's not think about that).
Often in the evening, a certain boy will come wandering into our bed, fresh from the tub, ready for a read-aloud. Or maybe he's ready to be tickled lightly by my fingertips on arms, legs, belly, back, neck, and hands. That's probably more like it.
But while I've got him for the tickles, I reach for the latest book in the series we're slowly reading through. Last time I'd read the Little House books, he was much younger, so it's almost like he hasn't heard them before, and at age eleven, now is the perfect time for a second time through.
At first, he wasn't all too interested in a series about a girl. But then, he found out this girl had a dog named Jack, and this girl was more of a tom-boy, like Caddie, and then her stories about panthers and bears and Indians pulled him right in.
Then, wouldn't you know, third in the series there really is a book about a boy! This one he remembers, because Big Bill Richie and his gang of bullies get a reckoning by the teacher, Mr. Corse and his black snake whip (over the years, the boys have asked me to read just that chapter).
I don't know how far in the series we'll go (even the tickling wouldn't keep him still for the fall-in-love- and-get-married part), I don't know how many nights he'll still want to snuggle in after his bath, but I do know it won't last nearly as long as I'd want.
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