In continuing our discussion of books and reading, today I have a guest post from my mother, affectionately called "Oma" by her grands. She is a gifted teacher. Literature and discussing great books is one of her favorite things to do. I feel so blessed that she is passing that love on to her grandchildren!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He knew how to read, loved being read to, read the easy
readers, but had not yet discovered the great pleasure of solitary reading,
especially reading longer and more complex books.
So Oma’s Book Club was launched. I wanted to encourage him to devour and savor
good books. This would be more than just
getting a reward for reading, we would discuss the books – and thus I would in
a natural way teach him the concepts of literature which would cause the enjoyment
of good books to soar. Or at least that
was the plan….
When I asked X-man, my 7 year old grandson, if he would like
to be in a Book Club with me he excitedly said yes even before I explained it. (I think his dad had let it slip there might
be a treat involved.)
The Plan
1.
Oma would pick a book to read.
2.
After both reading the book we would have a date
to go out and discuss.
The Execution
1.
The X-man is only 7 years old and I wanted the
first book to be a success. He was
skeptical of his ability to read a “long” chapter book. So we started with Five O’ClockCharlie by Marguerite
Henry, a 40 page book. While not a
chapter book, this picture book is beautifully written with rich vocabulary,
enchanting syntax, and a lovely story of love, life and grace to an older
generation. Definitely a great book for
the beginning of our book club.
Twenty-eight year-old draft horse
Charlie is retired by Mr. Spinks who is trying to do his horse a favor; but
life is boring to Charlie, who misses the days when he and Mr. Spinks would
head to the local pub at 5:00 PM sharp for Birdie's fresh apple tarts. One day,
Charlie jumps the fence and trots to the pub where he hopes the cheerful Birdie
will give him his own juicy tart. Soon, this jaunt is an everyday routine.
2.
After X-man read the book (two or three times),
we headed to the frozen yogurt shop for our treat and discussion.
This was to be a real discussion – definitely not a test,
nor a lecture, nor a lesson. But I did
have things I wanted to talk about - quite a number of things. Nevertheless I was also going to be
responsive to him – ready to go on a bunny trail if he desired, ready to drop a
line of discussion if he seemed lost or bored.
And ready to quit when it seemed natural, rather than when my “list” was
completed.
There are many things to discuss about a book: Plot,
characters, setting (including both geography & time), themes, vocabulary,
literary devices, etc., etc. You never
want to cover everything with every book.
That would be tiresome and stilted. There are future opportunities with the
next books.
I started with, “Who is your favorite character?” And I was ready with the follow up questions
of “Why did you like him/her? What was he like? Could you describe her to me?”
if needed. These questions were ready
just to get him talking – I did not want him to think I was interrogating him!
X-man told me about Charlie first. When he described him he left out a few
things – one of which I wanted to discuss.
The author described Charlie as having “sad brown eyes and shaggy
feathers on his feet.” I reread the line
and we looked at the pictures. I asked X-man
if a horse has feathers on his feet. He
was confused and said, “I guess so.” So
I explained with a laugh that he knew birds have feathers, not horses. I
explained that this is a metaphor – a description of an object –in this case
the long fluffy hair on Charlie’s feet – that asserts it is, on some point of
comparison, the same as another otherwise unrelated object- in this case
feathers.
Then X-man wanted to talk about the second character whom he
really liked: Birdie, the plump cook at the inn. I laughed about the name Birdie and asked him
if he could imagine anyone naming their child Birdie. He laughed, too, and
quoted a line from the book, “She would bounce out of the inn like a cuckoo
from a clock.” I then mentioned that
this is similar to the feathered feet of Charlie. Birdie is not a bird – she is a lady, but she
is like a bird.
Now he has not really learned similes and metaphors, but I
have broached the subject naturally. It
will not seem as strange next time, and he is building an understanding which will
undergird the formal learning he will receive much later.
After we finished talking about the characters – mostly
directed by him – I read one particular paragraph out loud.
Quick as flies the people would come swarming. There were teamsters and tailors, carpenters
and cobblers, bankers and barristers, goldsmiths, silversmiths and
blacksmiths.
I did NOT discuss the simile with corresponding verb in the
first sentence. I was being careful not
to rub his face in the educational aspect of our book club. But we did talk about each of the
professions. This is pretty complex
vocabulary. He knew some of them, but
not all. Then I reread the sentence to
see if he could hear the
pattern. And as I ready I emphasized:
Teamsters and Tailors, Carpenters and Cobblers,
Bankers and Barristers
We talked about alliteration very briefly. He knows about rhyming and I explained this
was similar – and it made the sentence lyrical, or almost musical. He seemed to understand and commented that it
was fun to say out loud. He repeated the work al-lit-er-a-tion and the
sentence.
Of course we also talked about the plot. I let that discussions just run
conversationally at his direction and pace.
X-man also wanted to talk about the illustrations. I had not planned on talking about them at
all. He had thought about them and
shared his insights with me!
The theme of the story is that we all need meaningful work,
that we need to treat everyone with respect, and that no one is too old to have
a rich meaningful life. If X-man brought
it up we would follow his bunny trail.
But I knew going in that I would not chose to discuss it.
Many times morals and themes are best caught
by the story rather than taught by the teacher.
I did discuss it with his mother in case she has the opportunity to
catch him exhibiting the positive character traits – then she can comment that
he is behaving like Charlie or Birdie.
Our first book discussion was a great success. I spent a few hours tracking down the next
book I wanted to read.
My goals? Good books
– good both from a literary standpoint and morally. A variety of genres and authors. Books that
are increasingly challenging while not being overwhelming.
My next choice? TheBox Car Children.
Oma’s Book Club… to be continued…..
Colene Lewis
wife, mother, grandmother, speaker, curriculum
writer (KONOS Russia curriculum) and currently working for Alliance Defending Freedom.
Related Posts on Literacy and Reading:
