Our Kindergarten Reading Alouds

We set a goal to read a novel every month during Kindergarten, and we did it! Here is a list of the books we read.

1. Magic Tree House 1-6
2. The Tale of Despereaux by Kate Dicamillo
3. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Dicamillo
4. Because of Winn Dixie by Kate Dicamillo
5. Sarah, Plain and Tall
6. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
7. The Chocolate Touch

We started with Magic Tree House. These books are really great for introducing read aloud chapter books to your kids. The chapters are short, they are easy to understand, and very fast paced. But after six of them, I was ready for something with a little more depth to it.

As you an see, we went on a Kate Dicamillo kick. My daughter will tell you that she is her favorite author. While we were reading Jane would say, "How does she always write such good books?" I worried that some of the ideas or plot points would be above Jane's head, but she caught onto most of it really well, and I feel like the challenge was good for her. She has become very good at listening and understanding a story in the last year.

Sarah, Plain and Tall was received well and understood better than I expected. They played and talked about it for several days after we finished. I never finished a chapter though and had the kids beg for more.

Charlotte's web is a huge hit. We're almost finished with it, but the kids always beg for one more chapter. Always a good sign!

The problem with reading to your kids when they love books

Today I tried to sit down and do storytime with the kids. It went something like this.

*Open up THE RUNAWAY BUNNY*  Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away.
*Tommy climbs up into my lap with HIS favorite book. ITSY BITSY SPIDER.*
So he said to his mother, "I am running away."
*Tommy screams and waves the book in front of my face until I give in.* "Okay Jane. Hold on. Let me read this really quick." *Stick my finger in the spider puppet and sing* The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout. Down came the rain and--
"Can you start over?" Jane asks. "I missed the first page."
*Go back to the beginning. Start over* The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout.
*Finish that book but don't take finger out of the spider because Tommy wants to bite it. Go back to THE RUNAWAY BUNNY.* If you run away, said his mother, "I will run after you. For you are my little bunny.
*Turn the page and sing the first line of ITSY BITSY SPIDER to Tommy while Jane looks at the picture. Let finger take a break from being bit inside the spider puppet until Tommy starts yelling again.*
"If you run after me," said the little bunny, "I will become a fish in a trout stream and I will swim away from you."
*Max runs in from whatever he'd been doing when I called him to come to storytime.* "Can you start over?"
Sigh.
Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away.
*Tommy starts screaming and waving ITSY BITSY SPIDER again because it's time for his next reading.*
"Okay, hold on guys." The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout. Down came the rain and--
"Can you start over?"

Why I will always encourage my children to read fantasy

I just received an e-mail today from a woman in my critique group. She was submitting her chapters for the month and decided to add a little diatribe about how the children's book market is glutted with fantasy. And do we really want to be filling our children's minds with satanism and life-after-death in the here and now, and other garbage? Of course, in the same breath she went on to say that she wanted more books about children in the real world and their wonderful imaginations.

Excuse me while I bang my forehead against my keyboard.

What more is fantasy, especially fantasy for children, but the ultimate representation of that boundless and wonderful imagination so peculiar to humans, especially children? The ability to create entire new worlds is the birthright of writers and a testament to the capacity of the human mind. The ability to create, whether it is another human being or an entire world complete with magical creatures, made up languages, etc. is a gift from our Heavenly Father. It is one of the few ways that we truly become like Him. Creators.

Beyond that, I've never understood the idea that fantasy is satanism or that magic is some sort of conterfeit perversion for the power of God. The idea holds some sway with a few members of my church (I've heard them speak in Relief Society before), but not most. I will always remember and love Elder Uchtdorf for speaking of his love for Harry Potter and referencing it in an address he gave at a Stake Conference when I was in college.

Does fantasy contain magic? Yes. Is it sorcery and some manifestion of the devil? Heavens no! Fantasy is nothing more than the eternal struggle between good and evil set in another place. It teaches the power of love, friendship, kindness and sacrifice in the face of love of power, greed, cruelty, and selfishness.

These struggles in a child's everyday life or in the world around us are not only complicated, but oftentimes, gruesome and harsh. And too often, the wrong side wins. What better way to help a child make sense of the different forces and motivations of the characters in their world, than through a book set in another land. Sometimes taking a step into the unknown helps us come to understand human nature and ourselves like nothing else.

I am deeply religious, and a lover of fantasy. Many of the greatest fantasy writers of our time have been devout Christians who saw their characters as archetypes of Christ, and their stories as religious allegories.

Please don't deprive your children of the rich learning experience that is fantasy. I wish this world was more like Hogwarts, or Middle Earth, or Narnia. A place where there is magic and good always wins.