Many years ago, I worked with hospitalized emotionally disturbed children. One of the girls got a letter from her parents saying that were reading the same book that she was. Their letters to each other grew longer as they had more to talk about. The girl felt more important in her parents’ lives because they were taking the time to read something she liked. I made up my mind that if I ever had children I’d read what they read.
For the most part I have. And it has been worth every minute of my time. When my then middle-schooler raved about The House of the Scorpion which they were reading at school, I picked up a copy. Because I took a few hours to read the book I was able to have great discussion with my son on the morality of cloning and drug usage.
Lately, my fourth grade twins have been into the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series by Rick Riordan. They both asked for the third book for Christmas, and are anxiously awaited the release of the fourth. Because I’ve taken the time to read the books along with them, we’ve had great discussions on Greek Mythology and parenting. Percy Jackson is the son of a mortal woman and the sea god Poseidon. He leads a very different life than most sixth graders. The books are full of satyrs, cyclops, monsters, and all sorts of things from old mythologies.
I’ve read and re-read a lot of other books as my kids have gone through school. Tuck Everlasting, Bridge to Terabithia, Sounder, and Shiloh have all led to good discussions. Reading the same books gives us something else in common. Most of the books only take an hour or two for me to read, and most are very enjoyable. I know that we are fostering discussion skills, and higher levels of thinking skills. But mainly it’s just fun to talk books with my kids and to hear what they are thinking.
Also See:
Parents Visiting the Library: Reading to Children