storytime hits

The past few weeks our "big kid" story time has been expanded by 1 child since Charlie was found to be lurking in the hallway during our final days of Anne of Avonlea. We invited him up to join us on the bed and he fully enjoyed, without too much wiggling, The Magician's Nephew. They were so excited to hear the remainder of the story that we took an hour on Friday afternoon to finish up. Now we have to pick our next tale: Winnie the Pooh, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Children of Noisy Village, or Wind in the Willows.

I noticed a few months ago that some of my favorite classic books weren't being read in favor of flashier ones from the library. While I want the children to pick up these novels on their own, me reading aloud does give us a chance to continue our evening reading habit even though the older ones have outgrown picture books. However, I still do see Mary and Maggie listen in during the little boy's story hour on the sofa and sometimes they are good enough to read aloud to them with very fine expression.

It pleases me immensely that all the children (other than Julia Ellen) can sit for 45 minutes straight and listen to someone read to them as well as the oldest who read under their covers with the flashlight. Perhaps one day I will miss storytime, but with thousands of good "big kid" books to choose from, I don't think that will happen for a very, very long time.