I love to read. Both of my children are taking after me (to some extent their father) in that aspect of life. Jacob "reads" to himself. Lane is my true literature buddy. I started reading to him the day he came home from the hospital. I continued reading to him every night for almost 2 years. Then life just got busy, and we no longer had our nightly book to share. By the time I got back into the swing of it, I was forced to realize that my little baby was a growing boy who was in need of big boy books. Chapter books! Since I hated to read as a kid, I was totally in the dark into what choices would be best. I wasn't even sure if he would sit long enough to finish an entire chapter. Turns out he can sit through entire chapter. As a matter of fact, he will sit and listen for an hour straight or longer.
I came across a pin on Pinterest (love that place) that helped give me direction. After that, I did what any clueless, Amazon loving woman would do. I picked out a couple of books with a title I thought my 5 year old son would be interested in and read the reviews. In the end, the reviews didn't matter much because the second I said the word dragon Lane had chosen his book. We have purchased a couple more since then. The entire point is teach your children to enjoy reading. Start when they are tiny! It's one love that will never leave them. Here is our review of what we have enjoyed.
1. Three Tales of My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett [includes: My Father's Dragon, Elmer and the Dragon, The Dragons of Blueland]
This set includes all three books. Your child will want hear the entire tale so just go ahead and get all the books at once to save yourself some money. The first book is about a boy named Elmer Elevator who travels to a far away island to rescue a baby dragon and everything that happens on the journey. Book two is about Elmer and the dragon traveling back to Elmer's home. Book three is about Elmer helping the baby dragon save his family. It's adventure and fantasy. Lane enjoyed it so much we have read the entire set twice already.
2. The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey
George and Harold are the school clowns. They cause many troubles, but have fun in the process. I picked this one out myself while at Barnes and Noble. I only picked it up because it sounded like the perfect goofy book for a superhero loving boy. It's a completely silly book. I do have to say that a good bit of the funny lines were just above what Lane could really understand at his age. It's a lot like watching a Disney movie. The over all funny he gets, but he doesn't laugh at the punch lines because he just doesn't get it yet. He is ready to read more, but he does drive me a little nuts running around the house shouting "Tra-La-Laaaaa!!".
3. Winnie-The-Pooh by A.A. Milne
Assuming you don't live under a rock this one is speaks for itself. We are on chapter 5, but he seems to be ok with it. I can't say he is super excited about it like other titles we have read, but he listens and takes parts in. He did enjoy finding Eeyore's tail in one of the pictures. The drawings aren't fancy and the story isn't fast paced, but it's a wonderful way to give him a foundation that will help him later on. Some day he will be reading Beowulf and Shakespeare and while Captain Underpants is hilarious, he needs a good portion of the traditonal stuff to give him understanding and patience.
It doesn't matter what you pick, just read to your child. Turn off the tv, slow down the pace, and spend some time with your child.
