Saturday, May 19, 2012

reading is fundamental

Remember the television campaign for RIF, "Reading is Fundamental?" Apparently RIF is still going strong.

As I was driving the kid home from school the other day I noticed she was quiet — or at least quieter than usual. She was reading. The car is one of the places that she likes to read these days. As we pulled into the garage she announced that she was already on page 70-something of Diary of A Wimpy Kid, that we just picked up at the library. or I should say, one of the libraries at her disposal.

Nils by Ingri & Edgar Parin d’Aulaire ~ Doubleday, 1948, from other stuff my kid loves

At her school library she can take out two books a week. A block from school there is the Four Arts Children's Library, which has a wonderful selection of books old and new, and doesn't seem to mind if we miss a due date. Across the bridge there is the state-of-the-art Mandel Public Library, where she got this book, which she seems to be close to almost finishing.

I have always loved libraries, and I'm thrilled that she does, too. I guess what is really blowing my mind is how quickly she has learned to read. She seems to have gone from sounding out words, to reading Dr. Seuss, to these chapter books in record time. I'm not packing away The Cat in the Hat anytime soon, but I can't help but feel that we are crossing another threshold. If I cast my mind back to my own long-ago second grade school library, I think I was reading d'Aulaire, Dr, Seuss, and lots and lots of fairy tales. A life in books.

The kid's current favorites:

Magic Treehouse series
Judy Moody
Any book about dogs and cats
Henry and Mudge
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