Reading for the Kids

Most of the reading I do for the kids happens during the school year. Once summer rolls around, routines dissolve and bedtime becomes more of a suggestion than a rule. During term time, though, reading is firmly embedded in the bedtime ritual, and these days it mainly revolves around the two youngest. The oldest can read on his own now, and finding a book that would genuinely work for all three would be a herculean task. It is hard enough to find something that both a soon-to-be six-year-old and a nine-year-old will enjoy.

Reading aloud comes with its own set of challenges.

There is the constant stream of questions. Some of them are about words they do not understand, which is good and something I actively want to encourage, even if it breaks the rhythm of the story. Others come from drifting focus, or from a need to comment on everything. It can be frustrating, but it is also part of the experience.

Then there is the difficulty of following the story when reading for two very different listeners. One has a tendency to fall asleep within five seconds, the other can produce an impressive list of reasons why sleep is impossible tonight. Some evenings we barely make it through a couple of pages. Other nights we push on despite someone clearly being asleep, because the other is still listening intently. Given that, I can understand if the story sometimes feels hard to keep track of from their perspective.

I also remember from my own childhood that listening to someone read can actually be harder than reading yourself. Attention wanders more easily. I have very vivid memories of reading as a kid, where a sentence would spark the imagination, and suddenly you would find yourself half a page further down with no idea what you had just read. I suspect the same thing happens now, just in a different form.

We recently finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which means I have now reread it for the third time, but this time for the benefit of the youngest. To try something that would appeal more to her—she has been a bit lukewarm about Harry Potter—we moved on to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. They have seen the Wonka movie, but not Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We have read Matilda and Boy: Tales of Childhood, and they have seen The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, so Roald Dahl felt like a safe bet.

So far it seems to be working, even if the book is noticeably bleaker than I remembered. Children in poverty, miserable circumstances, and neglect, who somehow triumph anyway, is a recurring theme. It is not subtle, but it is powerful, and I can see why it resonates.

We will probably finish Charlie and the Chocolate Factory before the school holidays. After that, the plan is to return to Astrid Lindgren in January. Emil was a clear hit when we read it earlier, and we have dipped into Pippi Longstocking now and then with reasonable success. Revisiting Pippi feels like a good idea. I am also toying with the thought of introducing them to Just William, though I am not entirely sure how well it will land.

As with most things when it comes to reading for kids, the real challenge is not the books themselves, but timing, attention, and finding the right story at the right moment. When it works, though, it is still very much worth the effort.