I was reading before I entered the first grade, although exactly how and when that happened I really don't recall. I asked my mom about it once, and she said that when I was about four, I started reading illustrated storybooks along with her during our bedtime ritual. I think it was about then that she started reading "chapter books" to me, the first ones that I recall being by Thornton Burgess.............I adored Reddy Fox and Old Mother West Wind
His stories are the first that I clearly remember reading independently, probably at around age six.
I've never been a particularly voracious reader, although I always have a book "in hand". I have friends who are so addicted to reading that they'll devour any book, even if it doesn't really appeal to them. They can go through an amazing number and variety of books while I happily stroll along with one or two during the same period of time.
I didn't read LOTR until it was given to me on my 16th birthday in 1968, when it was reaching such popularity with the "flower power" crowd. Appropriately enough, my parents bought it for me that summer in San Francisco. As soon as I read the words, "Well, I'm back", I went back to the beginning and started again. My favourite chapter was "Treebeard", and I clearly recall reading it twice through before continuing on with the story, just so I could "hear" the language again. I really think it was the rich feel of Tolkien's language that hooked me even more than the tale itself. I don't think I even considered any of its underlying themes until my second or third reading.
There are two boys in my Grade Five class who
successfully made it through LOTR this year. Since the movies came out, I've seen quite a number of resolute ten and eleven year old kids attempt to read it, but only a few really succeed. These two boys are part of an extra-curricular literacy enrichment group that I "mentor", and we've had some great "chapter discussions" together (they love to compare book to movie
). Interestingly, they are both extremely strong writers for their age as well.
Something like you describe could be wonderful, as long as it's in addition to being snuggled and read to. It's just that I suspect that some parents buy their kids toys like that and assume that the whole "reading" thing is covered by that. When what is needed, of course, is to brainwash the kid—bring her up to associate reading with warmth, coziness, love, and snuggles, as well as interest and excitement.
Prim, did you know that there is quite a bit of research going into this very idea? An increasing number of kids are coming into the school system exhibiting language deficiencies, which really cause them problems in many areas of the curriculum -- reading, writing, listening to and processing information, conveying ideas orally..........it's a BIG concern. Researchers are now concluding that close physical contact while reading with very young children is extremely important. The "flow" of language -- inflection, pattern, rhyme and beat -- is evidently assimilated more successfully if the child is feeling it physically as it is being spoken/read. And guess what? Rhyming seems to be one of the most powerful kinds of early language experience there is, and nursery rhymes in particular seem to have some kind of special quality within this greater realm. In my own school district, a recent survey showed that only about a third of the children entering kindergarten could independently recall a simple rhyme like "Jack be nimble", and a disheartening number could not even provide the second line to "Twinkle, twinkle little star".
The district's Speech and Language Specialist is now desperately trying to put together something to help Kindergarten and Grade One teachers fill in the gaps, but says that what will continue to be missed is that all-important one-to-one "snuggle" that you talked about.