Twilight

This coming Friday night, Rob and I are taking Zoe and Eve to see the movie Twilight. Zoe and I have both read the entire Twilight series, and Eve is on the second book now. It's really fun to be able to read the same books as the girls and share the excitement of reading with them. Children who read have so many advantages over children who don't. I know that, as an English teacher, it's my job to say that, but it's really true. After about a month into the school year, I can tell you which students are "readers"--that is, they read for pleasure--and which aren't. The readers understand what we read in class, and don't struggle much with the more difficult texts. They are better writers: their writing is more complex and has more details. They can spell better than non-readers, and they have better grammar, because they know from experience how words and language works. Possibly most importantly, the readers can think critically. They don't just believe anything they're told. They think it through for themselves and decide what makes sense and what doesn't. I can't get much past them. All this, and nobody had to sit them down and TEACH them how to spell, write, or think. They learned it all on their own while feeding their imaginations and travelling through worlds different from their own.

My three oldest girls and Tabitha are avid readers. Juliet is a more reluctant reader, but I'm doing everything I can to get her reading. I've found that when I've read a book, she's more interested in reading it because it gives her something to talk about with me. I love reading. I especially love reading literary fiction (The Poisonwood Bible, anything by Flannery O'Connor, My Antonia, Tess of the D'urbervilles, etc.) and some "pop" fiction (I think Jodi Piccoult would fit in this category, but I find her stuff pretty "smart;" books by Michael Crichton and John Grisham). However, I can also enjoy reading kids books. I read the Uglies series and all the Harry Potter books with Zoe, Eve, and Sophia. Right now, Juliet's supposed to be reading a book called The Gift of the Pirate Queen, but she hasn't even begun. So this weekend, I'm going to read the first few chapters and every once in a while, I'll mention, in general conversation with the family, something that happened in the book, and how interesting I'm finding it. Betcha anything that Juliet also starts reading the book this weekend, and, if I keep reading it, she'll probably finish it by the end of Thanksgiving week.