Aurora loves books.
She devours them. We read
and reread them over and over and over.
If given the chance, she will go through a dozen at a single
sitting. After last week’s library
book sale when I came home with two bags full, she sat with me for nearly two
hours; we read twenty-eight stories that day.
I leave books all over the house. There are two that stay permanently in the car. Comics live in the bathroom. She has a shelf in the living room, a
row in the office, and her own bookshelf has long overflowed and now is working
its way around the perimeter of her room.
At any given time I have out twenty-five or more from the library. We read together while we wait for
breakfast, she reads to herself at quiet time, her father reads her a new three
plus an Aesop’s fable every night, and then randomly she will ask for stories
throughout the day. At preschool,
her teachers tell me she immediately heads to the book corner. Two to eight times a week, we
will attend library classes where she will hear one to five more. All this and I have never seen her reach
her capacity. The only thing that
trumps books is time with friends.
Friends always win.
Recently, we have signed up for Verona library’s 1000 Books Before Kindergarten challenge. It sounds like a ton, but if you read
three books a day to your child, you will achieve your goal in less then the
year. If you live in Dane County, I highly recommend you sign your
youngin’ up for the program as it costs nothing and your children get prizes
for every hundred books they read.
If you live elsewhere, I still recommend you take the challenge, as
Aurora’s own reading has nearly doubled since we started.
And if you are a little over the top, as I am, you may
consider using this as inspiration to start your own personal 10,000 Books Before Kindergarten
challenge. At first I thought this
was silly ambitious, but Aurora is one pace to finish way, way ahead of
time. She is so awesome.
