We're back!
Well, I've neglected this blog long enough. What with a new baby in the house and summer swim league, I haven't been reading to the kids on a regular basis for a while. Swimming is over now, and Trevor is sleeping more of less through the night, so we were able to read almost every night last week.
Before Trevor was born, Kristen and I would find time to read to all of the kids individually. This is no longer an option if we want to read, so I've been trying to find books that will appeal to both Jaymie (7) and Julia (4), which is more difficult than it might seem. For all of Julia's verbal sophistication, she doesn't have a tremendously long attention span yet, so keeping her engaged is a bit of work. This week we read Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren, which has held up surprisingly well after all of these years. I rented the movie version for the girls to watch yesterday, and they liked it. Jaymie spent a bit of time figuring out where the movie differed from the book.
I'm not sure what I'm going to read to them next. I'd really like to read The Last Battle and finish off the Narnia books with Jaymie, but that won't work for Julia. Any suggestions?
Before Trevor was born, Kristen and I would find time to read to all of the kids individually. This is no longer an option if we want to read, so I've been trying to find books that will appeal to both Jaymie (7) and Julia (4), which is more difficult than it might seem. For all of Julia's verbal sophistication, she doesn't have a tremendously long attention span yet, so keeping her engaged is a bit of work. This week we read Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren, which has held up surprisingly well after all of these years. I rented the movie version for the girls to watch yesterday, and they liked it. Jaymie spent a bit of time figuring out where the movie differed from the book.
I'm not sure what I'm going to read to them next. I'd really like to read The Last Battle and finish off the Narnia books with Jaymie, but that won't work for Julia. Any suggestions?
posted by Bryce @ 7/24/2005 11:19:00 PM
4 Comments:
At 11:39 PM, July 26, 2005,
Allison said…
We have the same problem with reading aloud to both daughters at once. A few that have worked well for us: The Phantom Tollbooth (some of it was over their heads, but they loved it anyway); the Little House books; Junie B. Jones books; The Secret Garden (requires some explanations, but the pictures are pretty enough and the story mysterious enough it still held Phoebe's attention); A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears by Jules Feiffer (the book on tape version's good and was enjoyed by the whole family on a car trip to Utah); Sarah Plain and Tall. We also listened to The Tale of Despereaux on a car trip, but it was incredibly dark and depressed the heck out of everyone until the end, which comes out all right. I'd wait a few years for that one.
I'm currently halfway through Anne of Green Gables and both girls love it. The vocabulary is pretty difficult, so it works better for me to read it to them at this point than for Elizabeth to read it on her own, but they both really get a kick out of Anne's character and are really into the story. After the first couple chapters, they were hooked.
At 11:48 PM, July 26, 2005,
Allison said…
I just looked up the Jules Feiffer book on Amazon and it also has lots of fun drawings to go along with the story, something we missed with the audio version. Apparently the author also does comic books.
At 11:54 PM, July 26, 2005,
Bryce said…
Well, Jules Feiffer is most famous as a cartoonist. He did the illustrations for The Phantom Tollbooth, but I think he's better known for his more grown-up work (the kind of stuff you find in the New Yorker and the Village Voice)
At 12:21 AM, July 27, 2005,
Allison said…
Huh. I didn't realize he did the illustrations for Phantom Tollbooth, which is funny since we looked up the illustrator just the other day to see what else he'd done.
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