The Importance of Reading

Reading to children is so important. A couple of days ago I was getting ready for the day in my bathroom upstairs, and Joseph was playing on the floor with his little cars. He had made up a whole scenario and was making the cars talk to each other. I heard him say something about having to stop so that the green bird could pass by. Do you recognise the story? I did- he was playing the part in Go Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman where a bunch of cars are driving in a row, and have to stop to let a bird walk by.

Another time I noticed this same phenomenon was when my mom was visiting a few weeks ago and gave Joseph a present of 6 wooden trucks. Immediately after opening the present, he took the trucks over to the back step, and drove them around for a bit. After some time he called Beppe (my mom) over and started talking about how they were watching an airplane take off. Then I noticed that the trucks were all neatly lined up in a row, and this is exactly what happens in another of Joseph's favourite books, Five Trucks by Brian Flota. In this book five trucks are servicing and airplane before takeoff, and then line up to watch it take off.

I remember as a child how much I would draw on my reading experiences and make them a part of my life. I remember one time I just had read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and when I came home after school I sat down with a chocolate chip cookie and tried to eat it as slowly as possible, just like when Charlie was eating his Wonka candy bar in the beginning of the book. This was at a time when my family was having some money problems, so when I look back at it now I think that maybe in my mind I was trying to find the good aspects of being poor, like that when one is poor, one really appreciates the things one does have. It is really neat for me to see that Joseph is also savouring his reading and bringing it into his play.