Re: BANANAFISH digest 509

Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Sun, 15 Nov 1998 11:12:56 +1100 

My mother read me The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe series when I was
about four or five years old and I was totally into it. I remember going in
to a bookstore with my grandmother asking if they had `The Silver Chair'
(one in the series) and they were all aghast, going `Oh no, dear, we're
sure you mean `The Wishing Chair' by Enid Blyton!' I thought they were very
tiresome - I had to explain the whole plot before they'd even sell me the
book. I then progressed onto Lord of the Rings. 

My point to all this is I can't stress enough how my mother reading to me
from an extremely young age has well and truly shown its benefits down the
line. I really believe there's no time too early to start, because it
engenders a love and understanding of literature that's going to serve the
child well in later life.

Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
@ THE ARTS HOLE www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442
@ THE INVERTED FOREST www.angelfire.com/pa/invertedforest

> When I was younger I loved the Dark is Rising books!  I read them in
> middle school as well as most of Madeline L'Engle's books although _A
> Wrinkle in Time_ was reguired in my third grade class (a bit young for
> that I think).  As I was growing up, my father used to read us a bedtime
> story every night until about 8th grade.  We would read whole books
> chapter by chapter every night--I mean not just typical "kids books"--I
> remember we read 1984, Animal Farm, The Lord of the Rings, The Catcher in
> the Rye, The Canterbury Tales, Fahrenheit 451, etc. by the time I was in
> 5th grade. Of course I didn't understand them at all to the extent that I
> did when I read them for myself later but it definetly was one of the
most
> important processes that I went through--being introduced to that kind of
> literature at such a young age.  Oh, and I'd just like to add that _The
> Little Prince_(one of my person favorites) is, I think, a great example
of
> a book for kids and adults because its content covers so many different
> areas.