November 8, 2012

a new kind of reading


A week ago arrived the long awaited collection of Roald Dahl stories I've had my eye on for some time now.  In that time we've already ready Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and we're onto Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.

Since they were very little, my boys (including Hugo it would seem) have loved being read to and flicking through picture books before they even knew what the words meant.  When they were babies and we could see how much they enjoyed story time, I looked forward to the day I would read (or they would read) my favourites, Roald Dahl, Rudyard Kipling, Barbara Kingsolver (alright, maybe not Babs just yet) and I almost never hesitate to buy or borrow books for them, though it is difficult to get to the library as often as we used to.

I was a little concerned that the Roald Dahl books with their lack of pictures and many many words would be too much for the kids, but in truth, they love them and there's no doubt that they (especially Oliver) are ready for this new kind of reading.

In this current stage of their obsession with machines, trucks, guns, robots etc, it's marvellous to see how keen they are to sit and read and I can feel Ollie's itch to get reading all on his own.  If he's anything like his parents, he will love reading and because of that I want to do everything I can to encourage it and not because I'm feeling a little out of my depth with all the testosterone fuelled energy about the place.

I hope, really really hope their enthusiasm for books never ever wanes. Ever.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We love Ronald Dahl. Erin and dave devoured the Roald Dahl box set in weeks. We haven't found anything that quite replaces it- we've dabbled in secret seven and we've recent,y found the jack stalwart books (about a boy who is a secret agent) but nothing beats a bit of roald Dahl (ps show them the original willy wonker film, it blew their mind, although some bits a little scary so you'll just have to sit and watch the whole thing ith them!)

Mandy said...

Can't wait to watch the original with them but they aren't quite ready for it yet. We tried to watch 'Up' with them a few weekends ago and Ollie cried and cried - and it's not very scary at all! He's loving James and the Giant Peach now, and it's funny that he didn't bat an eyelid at the Aunts Spiker and Sponge being squashed by the peach but as soon as the peach squished some cars, both Max and Ollie got really upset!

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