Friday, 21 July 2017 11:34

Summer Reading

By Katherine Morna Towne | Families Today

I love reading to my boys. When my oldest few were little, I read to them all the time. I remember Harold and the Purple Crayon, Corduroy, and our most beloved Where the Wild Things Are being favorites, with the latter being read so often that I had it memorized and would tell it to them when we were waiting in line at the grocery store (it quieted them down every time).

Now that life is much busier than it was in those days when I only had little boys, I don’t read to my current littles nearly as much. Their brothers pick up some of the slack—it’s the sweetest thing to see a big boy reading to his adoring little brother—and even when I do make an effort (as when I recently bought a new copy of Where the Wild Things Are, as our original copy had long since been loved to pieces, literally), it doesn’t always work out well (my three-year-old was terrified of it and didn’t want me to read it again). 

So I make an extra effort to read to them during the summer—scheduled, daily reading time—when our days aren’t so crazy and I have them all together with me. I started doing so a couple of summers ago—I had really wanted to find a book that all of them could enjoy, that would be appropriate for all of them, from the three-year-old to the ten-year-old. I decided to try Charlotte’s Web, and it was an immediate hit. The chapters are short, and there are illustrations every couple of pages, so it doesn’t ask too much of the younger ones. I knew it was a good fit when I read this part (after several paragraphs about Wilbur the pig being sad that he was feeling lonely):

“Wilbur didn’t want food, he wanted love. He wanted a friend -- someone who would play with him.”

And my three-year-old immediately put his hand high up in the air and said with wide eyes, “I will!”

(Be still my heart!)

That my little guy had connected with the story in such a way really reaffirmed that Charlotte’s Web was a good fit for our reading time, and when the next summer came and I wanted to start reading a book to them, I couldn’t think of a better one, so we read it again. And again this summer! We’re about halfway through, and they’re all enjoying it.

Some other books I’ve read to all of them include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its sequel Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (the boys vastly preferred the former), and I tried some of the Little House in the Prairie books but they never really stuck. 

We really only have time to get through two books as a family each summer (our second one this summer will probably be Charlie and the Chocolate Factory again), but there’s other reading that goes on as well. They all have books they have to read for school, which I’m always happy about, and I often try to read a book to my older two as well—something a little more grown up that the little guys can’t handle just yet, and it usually ends up taking all summer. Sometimes it’s the book one of them need to read for school, like Wonder. Sometimes it’s a book I want to read with them in order to discuss any issues or questions that arise, like The Hunger Games. For the big boys, if a movie’s been made of the book we’ve just read, my husband and I will often watch that with them.

If I could pick just one thing to do with my boys, it would likely be reading. I’ve always been a bookworm, and I love when I see my boys excited about a story and I love to share it with them by reading it together. Reading together often sparks great conversations about things on their minds, which I love. I love when I see them reading on their own too! One of my boys recently got a dinosaur book from his aunt and uncle (to add to his vast collection of dinosaur books) and I’ve seen him sitting quietly several times since he received it, studying each page with a furrowed brow. What happiness!

If you have any recommendations of books appropriate for boys ages three to twelve (especially of the Charlotte’s Web and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory level and length), I’d love to hear them! I hope you’re all having a great summer so far!

Kate and her husband have six sons ages 12, 10, 9, 7, 5, and 3. Follow her at www.facebook.com/kmtowne23, or email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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