A Good Read

When was the last time you read a book and you were so sad that the book was coming to its end?  When was the last time you read something that made you angry?  Made you question your beliefs?  Made you change your mind?  Made you cry?

A couple of nights ago, Dempsey was close to finishing Charlotte's Web.  He is so unfamiliar with the name Charlotte or unexposed to the commercialization due to the movie that every time he would talk about the book, he would pronounce "Charlotte" with a ch rather than an sh.  As a parent, I think these unadulterated pronunciations are cute.  Just like how he called Sponge Bob Square Pants the "Cheese Monster" for the longest time because he had never seen the show.

When I checked out Charlotte's Web a couple of weeks ago from from the library, I figured the kids would like it as a read aloud.  After the first two chapters, Dempsey hijacked the book for his own night time reading, and he finished the book in about a week.  Realize that this is the kid who, until exactly a year ago, could not read, let alone write his own name using lower case letters.  He was not a dummy.  But rather a student who had spend the previous year in a kindergarten that focused on the arts and story telling instead of short and long vowel sounds.  When we made the move to a mainstream, international school, he needed to do some catch up.  Thanks to the patience of a seasoned reading tutor and (ahem.....)  parents who worked with him every day, he made up the time and was soon reading with the best of 'em.  Or at least, his first grade compatriots.

Fast forward to now.  He is a reading machine.  He has read about 2 dozen of the Magic Tree House books since August.  These books are great for getting kids to read, but not necessarily great examples of literature that moves you.  No disrespect for what Mary Pope Osborne has done.  She has struck the match that has lit the fire for hundred of thousands of kids who now love to read.

So when I brought home Charlotte's Web, neither kid was interested.  They only wanted to know where Jack and Annie's next adventure would take them...  But after a few days, they asked to hear the story.

After Dempsey had made his way through most of the book, he got to the second to the last chapter... stop reading here if you haven't read the book and don't want me to spoil the ending...

... where Charlotte dies, he stops reading and says that he is so sad he wants to cry and doesn't want to finish the book.  He sat there, on the couch... quivering chin, eyes with a faraway look, slumped shoulders.  He was visible shaken by Charlotte's death and I was dancing triumphantly (on the inside).  My kid just read a story that evoked emotion in him that made him feel like a friend had just died!  He connected to a story on paper that moved him to tears.  How cool!