So, Harry Potter. Love him, I do. Really. I am a faithful fan of his series. But...I have to confess that starting from square one AGAIN feels Ike I have a really long uphill climb ahead of me.
I think it was in Stomper's second grade year that Troy and I started reading The Sorcerer's Stone to him - I recall reading much of that first one to him, we listened to the second one on CD on a drive to St. George, and after that Troy took over. They finished all seven of them a year or so later.
And now, guess who is finishing up second grade? Bitty. And she was looking for some new reading material. (She has turned into quite the little reader by the way - Stomper loves good books as long as he doesn't have to do the actual reading. He is getting better but how refreshing it has been for a kid to search out books and often read of her own free will and choice. I hope Stomper some day comes to love the adventure and escape of reading like I do.) (That was a very long side note.). Let's see...where was I? Oh yeah. So Bitty starts reading The Sorcerer's Stone. It is just a titch above her reading level and so she is asking for some help now and then until bit by bit we have fallen into an evening routine of me reading to her. Which is great.
My mom used to do a ton of out-loud reading to us kids; it's one of my strongest and best childhood memories. And I love the rapt attention I get from my daughter as I read. Having listened to Jim Dale so brilliantly and masterfully read the Harry Potter series several times already, I find myself trying and failing miserably to recreate some of his character voices. I think Bitty enjoys my attempts though.
But I can't lie - we have a LONG road ahead. Certainly a pleasant journey but ...so many pages for me to read. And I don't love a lot of book 2 (though the ending makes it worth it) or book 5 (don't like Angry Harry) and so many characters die (spoiler alert!!) - Bitty and I are embarking on quite the journey.
One more quick note - we wouldn't let Stomper see any of the movies until he and Troy had finished a book. Bitty half listened to about half of each book but we let her watch the movies anyway - she so wanted to not be left out. I was afraid her journey just wouldn't be the same and that we had ruined it for her. That is turning out to not be the case at all. Her memories of the story are pretty foggy but enough to keep her very in tune with the plot. She loves our reading time. I will have to change my sprinting nature to that of a distance-reader but as long as I pace myself we are going to have a great time on our Harry Potter journey. We will see how old Bundle is before she is ready to take her own trip to Hogwarts.
1 comment:
sounds familiar. We started with Corbin and weren't consistent with him at night reading, so he just did it on his own. He is now on book 4 and loves it. I didn't know he would be so in to the series - or that the comprehension would be there for him, but he gets it - even narrates the movies as we get to watch them (when he finishes a book) by telling us which chapter we are on and the title. I love that you are starting this journey with her! I am looking forward to more of book 4 with Corbin - it is one of my favorites! Happy reading!
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