Wilbur

I've been enjoying this very inspiring book about reading. It's called The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. He covers a huge amount of research in a very easy to follow way explaining the benefits of reading aloud. He also makes it more accessible by tossing in personal anecdotes from his own life and the lives of readers who have shared their successes with him. My favorite thing he has said so far: "Parenting is not supposed to be a time-saving experience. Parenting is time-consuming, time-investing—but not time-saving."

That said, Sammi and I have renewed our interest in reading together. She's getting very interested in longer picture books. So, after reading about lengthening attention span I decided to try for something a bit more challenging. I pulled Charlotte's Web by E.B. White of the shelf and gave it a go. We have been reading it every morning during breakfast. We started Monday morning and today we reached chapter five! My throat was getting tired this morning so I set it down and Sammi said, "I'm not done yet!" I thought she was talking about her cereal but she informed me that she wanted me to keep reading!

I haven't read this book in so long. I forgot that Wilbur is a white pig and that Fern had to send him to her uncle's house to live in the barn. We were at Gardner's Village yesterday and ventured into the petting zoo. They just happened to have a white baby pig—just like Wilbur! Sammi was excited to make the connection between the two. It's just so much fun. I wish you all happy reading!