my turn to read!

Pook has been in a Magic Treehouse phase for a while now. He knows them by both title and number and corrects me if I say Dingos at Dawn instead of at Dark. Beverly Cleary has also won him over, but less consistently. We've dabbled in some others, like the Boxcar Children (which bore me) but until he's out of Cleary's books and catches up with Osborne's publishing schedule, I think he'll stick with these. Although I'm pretty sure he can read them alone, he prefers to have them read aloud. For school he has to read daily and he works on slightly simpler books like Frog and Toad.

We read to the boys every night before bed- and since Pook got interested in books without pictures, my husband and I both get involved and one of us reads to each child. If one of us is gone at bedtime the other may read the chapter book until Bug gets bored, or may make Pook just listen to picture books. (I think he still enjoys them, like old friends, even though he claims to be too old for them.) We've got a problem however. We can't stand to miss out on the stories! I came downstairs last night only to see my husband on the sofa reading Henry and Beezus!

I had started the book and had claimed rights to it earlier in the week. (This annoyed Bug to no end since he wanted me and only me to read to him and I was with Pook for several nights in a row.) Unfortunately, I was out one evening and my husband had read half a chapter and gotten hooked on the story. (And I had missed out on half a chapter!) So, when I finished the book last night and Pook exclaimed about how happy he was for Henry at the end, my husband just had to find out what had happened.

My mom started Pook on chapter books by giving him The Mouse and The Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary for Christmas when he was five. My father had started reading it to him Christmas day. The next night when I was reading it in their living room I realized my father had put down the paper and come to sit close enough to hear. But then we went home. Before finishing the book. Before Ralph saves Keith. So, my dad bought himself the book.

At the time, I laughed at my dad, (all the while crediting him with good taste in stories). But I hadn't had it happen to me. Now it happens all the time and I realize there are stories I've never even read. I missed out on Henry and Ribsy completely! I guess I'll have to claim it next time Pook pulls it out for us at bedtime. Or read it by myself.