Reading to the Girls

My girls are Lindsay and Kira, granddaughters who are 11 and 8 respectively. They live in suburban Chicago about 10 miles from our home. Over the past two years or so I’ve visited them on Saturday mornings to read to them. The age difference (theirs to each other, not mine!) has kept me reading two different books each week.

Lindsay and I have read Wind in the Willows, Dandelion Cottage, The Dutch Twins, and the first five Anne of Green Gables books (there are eight in the series and we just began book 6!). Kira and I have read about Willie Wonka, Little Women (the hideously abridged edition!), and several other tomes. Kira started my reading with the Book of Genesis, yes the Bible! That didn’t last long; perhaps because I wasn’t sure she understood much of what I was reading; so I gave a running commentary when I felt knowledgeable enough. I don’t know if she tired of the Bible, or of my commentary! All I know I was probably more bored than she. With relief we went on to other literature. Today we began the Nancy Drew series to see if she will retain interest. I bet she does.

As I grew up, the youngest of three, I remember my mother reading to the three of us at bedtime. Every now and then she would find a special time to read to us in the living room on a Sunday evening. The soothing sound of her voice, the inflected reading of the books, and the constantly unfolding story lines kept me rapt. It was fun; never boring. And it opened me to the world of literature and the love of reading which I pursue to this day.

Lindsay is an avid reader already. She is working on The Hunger Games, has finished all of the Harry Potter books, but reads ravenously. Her teachers suggest authors and titles to feed her interests. Next will be the library. She already has a habit there. And that is all very promising.

Reading is a life skill. It not only helps build a strong working vocabulary, but it develops a nuanced understanding of language. That skill alone aids the process of thinking. Ideation, conceptual development, logical thinking and expression go hand in hand. From early age to late retirement, the brain develops; and reading abets the effort always!

Getting children started on reading also gives them self empowerment. They choose subject matter and authors. They bounce around to literature that intrigues them and feeds their imagination. Refreshing independent thinking comes from reading as broadly as they wish. This is also the stuff of conversation. Talk? About what? What do kids talk about? Well, the things that interest them! And the world is available to explore whether through books with paper pages, or electronic readers with finger flick control!

I don’t listen in to their private conversations, but I do know they talk with me about topics I know they have been reading about. That helps build their perceptions of the world. They come to understandings bit by bit. Like we all have done. They too will form a sense of what is going on around them. Best that they get that sense early, often and freely. They will create with it, now or years later. But it will remain a part of their brain matter for a lifetime.

Forming personhood. One book at a time. One page at a time. Good to know this hasn’t changed since I was a kid.

June 15, 2012