Thursday, August 17, 2006

I'm forever in debt

Well, that "Lord of the Rings" party that Caleb McC had 2 weeks ago is yielding even more fruit! Luke is deep into "The Hobbit"!! I am so excited I can hardly stand it. Luke is such a good reader. He basically taught himself when he was about 4, and he's been a strong reader, and an excellent sight-reader, even since. But he has been a reluctant reader too, unwilling to challenge himself at all in his reading selections. In fact, he would rather play with Jonathan and Caleb or play on the computer or well, do about anything else, than read. Nathan suggested books he thought Luke would really like, and I did the same. Occasionally he would read one, but he would never just pick one up and read it for pleasure. I always had to tell him it was "time to read". The only books he would really read on his own were Bionicle books (can you say "TWADDLE"?!!!), Dragon Slayers' Academy (more twaddle, but at least funny--and now the boys comunicate to each other in Pig Latin, which they learned from them. LOL!), and the odd Encyclopedia Brown ones (which have short chapters, his big sticking point).

But last week Nathan flew through "The Hobbit", and now he's not too far from finished with "Fellowship of the RIngs". I guess Luke had a good time at the party, and he felt left out of Nathan's and my LOTR discussions, so two nights ago he asked if he could read "The Hobbit". Well . . . let me think about it . . . hmmm. LOL! No, I said sure in as casual a manner as I could possibly maintain. I really doubted he would get too far in it. Not only are the chapters quite long by his standards, the print is really small! But he has read steadily last night and all of today, and he's about halfway done. I am over the moon! Maybe NOW he will decide to give "Henry and Ribsy", 'The Boxcar Children", and all these other great books we have a chance! I'm hoping anyways.

2 comments:

Pilot Mom said...

Sounds like there's a wee bit of Pilot blood running through Luke's veins! :) LOL!

Don't give up hope though because now Pilot is a voracious reader. Some fiction but most of his reading is non-fiction. Who would have thought so many years ago?! :)

I laughed when you described Luke's criteria...the shorter, the thinner the book was, the better it was in James' eyes. But, that really didn't begin until he was like in the 4th grade or so...once basketball became all consuming. Then in college the reading for pleasure resurfaced with his qwest for knowledge etc. I guess I'd better stop...he does read your blog! LOL!!!

Unknown said...

Go Luke Go!!
♥Pam