A new chapter
D and I are reading James and the Giant Peach. It’s his first chapter book.
Well, actually, I read Charlotte’s Web to him when he was an infant, and a captive audience. But I haven’t been able to get him interested in a chapter book. I’ve tried both Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little, but they both take a while to get moving, and the chapters are a bit longer than his attention span. (I am boggled when I read Catherine Newman’s essays about reading the Little House books to her 5-year old.)
James is about perfect. The chapters are only a page or two, and each of them ends on a cliffhanger. D keeps asking me "what happens?" and I tell him we’ll have to read the next chapter to find out. He doesn’t seem too traumatized by the parents getting eaten by a rhino, although he doesn’t understand why the Aunts are so mean to poor little James. It’s great fun.
March 31st, 2005 at 11:00 pm
My just-turned-5 son couldnt get into Stuart Little.
He did, however, like Little House in the Big Woods. Enough illustrations to keep him happy. We gave up on Farmer Boy after only a chapter though. Big Woods is quite early-readerish, with very short chapters. It does, however, require a fair bit of on-the-fly editing, depending on how much you want to address things like hunting, people being shredded by panthers, and enough U.S. social history to explain the “darky” references…
It was an interesting introduction to me to the new issues that his increasing awareness of the world and interest in wider media will be raising for us:
http://www.deathstar.org/~svanlooy/wordpress/index.php?p=10” (My MommyBlog Entry on the subject– I’m not issues blogging, I’m online-album-for grandparents blogging.)
One of Primo’s birthday presents last week was a gorgeous edtion of “The Wind in the Willows,” from grandpa. There is an illustration on every single page. Abridged, but not horribly. I thought we’d still have to wait awhile, but he demanded we start it last night… Its edited/illustrated by Inga Moore, I think?
April 2nd, 2005 at 8:32 pm
How cool – chapter books! That must be really fun. When we started Dr. Seuss books, that was pretty exciting. Our two-year-old is especially good with Green Eggs and Ham. I love reading books with her. It’s one my favorite things to do with her.
April 3rd, 2005 at 11:57 pm
Ah, James and the Giant Peach! I shall have to try that one on Pseudonymous Kid.
April 4th, 2005 at 10:51 am
Have fun with the book! Our lives are currently ruled by the Little House series. My 5 year old is obsessed. I’m amazed how she has such a great attention span for a book….yet can’t seem to listen to a full sentence from me that includes simple words such as “clean-room” or “brush-teeth” or “wash-hands.”
Good luck in the race. I ran the Cherry Blossom race when we lived in DC. I ran marathons pre-children and have just started training again (after 6 long years off!). I’m hoping to do the Marine Corps Marathon in October. We’ll see.