Out Loud (and in silly voices)

Reading aloud to children is something I enjoy doing whether it is to my own children or not.  I tend to really get into it using multiple voices, big loud booming ones and quiet timid squeaky ones. I use my hands and act out a knock on the door or stomp my feet and encourage the listeners to cheer along with the characters and get as into the story as I do.

As it tends to happen however, as my own children have gotten older I’ve read to them less and less.  With my youngest now being an independent and as enthusiastic reader as I am the importance of reading aloud to them seems to have faded.

That was until Harry Potter as over the last year we read the entire series together and I began to really see the value of reading aloud to both of them again. My oldest listened because she was too impatient for me to finish reading them to my youngest before reading them on her own, which she then did anyways.

What I’ve noticed since then as I’ve read other stories to my youngest is how my oldest surreptitiously listens to the story I’m telling rather than reading the one in her own book open on her lap.  Her eyes seem to lose focus and pages no longer turn.

So seeing as I have set my own goals to read some “better literature” I’ve decided in the next few months to do the same with my girls, reading aloud the classic children’s tales and whether they both admit to listening or not I think it will be well enjoyed.

   

1.       Chalotte’s Web – E.B. White

2.       The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson

3.       3. The Velveteen Rabbit - Margery Williams

4.       4. The wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum

5.       5. Anne Of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery

6.       6. James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl

7.       7. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

8.       8. Pinocchio - Carlo Collodi

9.       The Wind in The Willows – Kenneth Grahame

10.   Through the looking-glass – Lewis Carol

11.   Black Beauty – Anna Wewell

12.   The Tale of Despereaux – Kate DeCamillo

13.   The Chronicles of Narnia – C.S. Lewis – full set

14.   The Black Stallion – Walter Farley

15.   The Neverending Story – Michael Ende

Exploring The Written Word

I’ve begun a new project or perhaps I’ve continued an old one depending on which way you look at it. I have been creating a list of books that I would like to read.  In recent years I seem to lean towards popular fiction reading the latest works of my favorite authors or picking up random best sellers. I haven’t read a piece of classic literature in years and I’ve recently realized that I miss reading those books that challenge my intellect rather than simply my imagination.

It’s quite the list I’ve created and while I have read many of these books previously it’s been a long time.  The first book on my list is in fact one of my favorite reads - Utopia by Thomas Moore.  I had read it many times over until one day I discovered that my dog-eared and well read paperback copy was missing. I never did find it and with slight astonishment I now realize I first discovered it missing nearly a decade ago.

I’m a rather voracious reader and I can and do read several books a week fairly regularly and so this is not really a daunting task at all but something I’m looking forward to.  Here is the first 25 I plan on reading.

1.       Utopia – Thomas Moore

2.       The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien (Just purchased the box set which is why these are so high on the list)

3.       The Fellowship of the Ring – J.R.R. Tolkien

4.       The Two Towers – J.R.R. Tolkien

5.       The Return of the King – J.R.R. Tolkien

6.       The Time Machine H.G. Wells

7.       The Iliad -  Homer

8.       The Odyssey – Homer

9.       Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathon Swift

10.   Dracula – Bram Stroker

11.   20,000 Leagues under the Sea – Jules Verne

12.   Frankenstein – Mary Shelley

13.   Around The World in Eighty Days – Jules Verne

14.   The Call of the Wild – Jack London

15.   Brave new World – Aldous Huxley

16.   Les Miserable – victor Hugo

17.   The Phantom o the Opera – Gaston Leroux

18.   Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell

19.   To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

20.   Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – John Le Carre

21.   Black Beauty – Anna Sewell

22.   Midnight’s children – Salman Rushdie

23.   A Passage to India – E.M. Forster

24.   Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy

25.   Lord of the Flies -  William Golding

In a Book

It has been quite some time since I’ve perused the books at the Winnipeg public library. The past few months any books I’ve read from the library were requested online.  What that means is all I have to do is step into the library wander the kids section for a few minutes while my youngest picks out a few books and check out. 

I’ve also been reading less than usual I think in part because I haven’t been perusing the shelves and finding new authors and new books to read.  So while I love the convenience of a simple pick up and drop off I’m missing out on something more.

There are of course a few other reasons I’ve been reading less, primarily a lack of time but also because I am still in the process of reading the Harry Potter series to both girls.  While I read at a rather quick pace alone reading aloud takes much more time. 

When we first became interested in this series I read all 7 books in a two week period.  Aloud I’ve been reading a chapter every day I’m able to and it’s been about 9 months now.  We are now only half way through book 6.

Hrmm got a little off track there….where was I ..…ahh the library and lack of time spent. 

I realized how much I enjoy wandering the shelves this past weekend as the millennium library opened a new park area and we as a family decided to go take a look.  It was a gorgeous weekend with a short respite from the cool fall days we’ve been having and it was quite nice to walk through.  

After checking out the new park area we spent a fairly good chunk of time wandering the library itself and as I walked down aisles a book jacket catching my eye here and there.  I began to realize that I rather missed the time lovingly spent picking books.

I love everything about the library, the smell of books the general air of calm and quiet. It seems to me that libraries represent the very best of humankind.  They represent our quest for knowledge, our love of imagination and even a bit of magic.  

Libraries have held a special place in my heart since I first began reading and I think I’d forgotten a bit of that.  They are a place in which I feel a sense of peaceful solitude and a reverence in the world at large, you can after all you can go anywhere in a book.