Thursday, March 05, 2009

Read Aloud


One of the coolest things about my kids is that they love to be read to. Out loud. Every day. Even the teenagers.

Of course, their tastes have changed and they beg their dad to read fantasy fiction to them at night while they draw pictures of dragons. But mornings are my time to read aloud and I get to choose the books.

We recently started reading THE TREES by Conrad Richter. This classic first book in THE AWAKENING LAND trilogy was first published in 1940, but reads like a much older story. It's one of those books that, if you were assigned to read it in English class, you would have complained and skimmed through it for answers, not because it's not a terrific book, but because you were assigned to read it in English class.

Don't tell my kids that it's classic American literature. Don't tell them they're learning from it. Because they love it. They're engaged in the story. They're learning the vocabulary. They care about Sayward and Sulie and Genny. Just like earlier this year they grew to love Scout and Jem and Atticus Finch.

What do you think we should read next?

1 comment:

Papa John said...

I suppose you shouldn't tell them that this trilogy is on Papa John's top ten for all-time list of "Best Reads" and that he has a treasured (and valuable) copy among his "precious books" collection. This section only represents about 18" inches of the nearly 80' of bookshelves around here currently (plus the stacks and boxes of books not on a shelf).

I suppose you shouldn't tell them that an English teacher read this book to us in class in about 1953 (I was thirteen) stilling our rowdy, unwashed masses into rapt and fascinated listeners eager for every new page.

Maybe you shouldn't mention that my personal pantheon of "Best English Teachers I Ever Had" - Bridenstein, Georges, and Ruby - each loved THE AWAKENING LAND and actually referred to it in their various classes.

I guess it would be out of place to mention I first learned to write well, and really enjoy it, while doing a score of essay assignments based on THE TREES.

Maybe I should not confess to rereading the three stories every four or five years and that I have continued this schedule for a handful of decades - no, it's actually closer to sixty years.

I'll think about other books to recommend, but the first title that flashed to mind was SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS. Surely it is a modern classic now and should hold up well for a long time.