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Wow. Just... wow
Now, Ana has been reading for a while. I don't want to brag, but she routinely reads picture books harder than her officially-tested-at "J" level (which is apparently a second grade reading level... although this week I think they retested them because now she's bringing home "L" books) at home.
And when we went to The Big Library (the one with the lions) two weeks ago (our own local library, the St. George Library* has been undergoing a lot of renovations and their children's room has been relocated to the basement with a corresponding reduction in the available books) she spent an hour just picking out books and reading them while I browsed. Silently, no less! (Usually, when I see her take out a book to read I tell her to read it to her sister so as to kill two birds with one stone there... and then I can read to ME! So I had no idea she could read to herself.)
Well, since Ana reads picture books, I often read chapter books with her.
Of course, one thing most of my old chapter books have in common is the race of their protagonists. They were older books (Half Magic) predating the Civil Rights movement even when I was a child, or they're not yet THAT old (Ramona, mostly, though that's an odd case) but still people weren't thinking as inclusively as I'd like. (And you know, I noticed this even as a kid, to an extent.) Or they do feature non-white protagonists, but they're really YA or older kidlit, or they're "issues" books, or they're historical or they're both historical AND issues.
So I saw this book, it's about a 3rd grader (so, close to her reading level), and it has a black girl as the protagonist. And it's a series, so probably fluff instead of serious? Okay, let's see....
I barely had brought it in the house when Ana snatched it from my hand. She loves reading, likes books, but she didn't get that excited when I found Howliday Inn just in time for her mom to finish Bunnicula with them!
So I gave it to her, thinking that since she's never read her own chapter book before and it is probably about a grade level above her reading level (given that it says RL 3 at the back) that it'd be too hard for her and we'd read it together. (I wasn't looking forward to it, since it's every bit as scintillating as Baby-sitter's Little Sister, but I enjoyed those books when I was 6.)
No, instead she's spent the past day patiently struggling up to page 42 in this book. By herself. I *know* it's too hard for her, but I can't stop her, can I? No, no, I can't. Reading a book a little too hard for her is good, anyway.
But I can't believe this is the same girl who normally would give up and sulk when told that "Booker boys" is not said "Booger boys". (She's a great kid, but I don't think she likes being wrong much. I say "if you don't like being wrong you should strive to be right", but she sometimes thinks that it's "if you don't try, you can't fail" instead.)
And when we went to The Big Library (the one with the lions) two weeks ago (our own local library, the St. George Library* has been undergoing a lot of renovations and their children's room has been relocated to the basement with a corresponding reduction in the available books) she spent an hour just picking out books and reading them while I browsed. Silently, no less! (Usually, when I see her take out a book to read I tell her to read it to her sister so as to kill two birds with one stone there... and then I can read to ME! So I had no idea she could read to herself.)
Well, since Ana reads picture books, I often read chapter books with her.
Of course, one thing most of my old chapter books have in common is the race of their protagonists. They were older books (Half Magic) predating the Civil Rights movement even when I was a child, or they're not yet THAT old (Ramona, mostly, though that's an odd case) but still people weren't thinking as inclusively as I'd like. (And you know, I noticed this even as a kid, to an extent.) Or they do feature non-white protagonists, but they're really YA or older kidlit, or they're "issues" books, or they're historical or they're both historical AND issues.
So I saw this book, it's about a 3rd grader (so, close to her reading level), and it has a black girl as the protagonist. And it's a series, so probably fluff instead of serious? Okay, let's see....
I barely had brought it in the house when Ana snatched it from my hand. She loves reading, likes books, but she didn't get that excited when I found Howliday Inn just in time for her mom to finish Bunnicula with them!
So I gave it to her, thinking that since she's never read her own chapter book before and it is probably about a grade level above her reading level (given that it says RL 3 at the back) that it'd be too hard for her and we'd read it together. (I wasn't looking forward to it, since it's every bit as scintillating as Baby-sitter's Little Sister, but I enjoyed those books when I was 6.)
No, instead she's spent the past day patiently struggling up to page 42 in this book. By herself. I *know* it's too hard for her, but I can't stop her, can I? No, no, I can't. Reading a book a little too hard for her is good, anyway.
But I can't believe this is the same girl who normally would give up and sulk when told that "Booker boys" is not said "Booger boys". (She's a great kid, but I don't think she likes being wrong much. I say "if you don't like being wrong you should strive to be right", but she sometimes thinks that it's "if you don't try, you can't fail" instead.)
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*Waxes nostalgic*
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It really is a glaring contrast with the the picture books they have for younger kids these days. I read "The Happiest Tree" last year, and the girls and I all loved it. (It's not a chapter book, but it's quite a rich and complicated picture book.) http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Happiest-Tree/Uma-Krishnaswami/e/9781584302377
Is Little House on the Prairie one of the old chapter books you remember reading as a child? I loved it, but it got hit hard by the racism fairy. Sometimes I felt like reading it out loud and skipping the horrible bits. Sometimes I felt like reading it out loud with interstitial commentary to explain "Ma said that, and she was wrong," or "this happened, and it wasn't fair." Sometimes I feel like it should only be read alongside The Birchbark House (which is magnificant and everybody should read it). Though the paired reading is a little challenging, because Little House in the Big Woods works for a younger child than Birchbark House and also because some foolish book dealers shelve Birchbark House with Louise Erdrich's other books. Which are also magnificent...but really, really, inappropriate for elementary school.
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I will recommend Ann Cameron's series-- early chapter books-- starting with "The Stories Julian Tells"