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It’s been a quiet year on the Book Smart blog, with my apologies. The last time I posted – slightly over a year ago – I was beginning a quiet summer and looking forward to a chance to catch up on my own fiction reading. Less than six weeks later, my husband and I were lucky enough to adopt a newborn baby boy, and hence my productivity as a blogger (and in many other capacities) was quite diminished. But my journey as a book smart parent began, and I’ve had an incredibly fun year “practicing what I preach” with Henry.
I’ve been jotting down notes throughout the year about his favorite books (and how he finds new favorites every three weeks, poring over them endlessly and examining each little detail in the illustrations) and the strategies that have helped make reading time together fun and cuddly, but turning those notes into an actual post has proven to be a challenge. Each time I think I have the time and energy to pull some cogent thoughts together, I realize that it would be a good idea to grade some papers, or make a meal, or take the increasingly rare shower… But no more. I am turning over a new leaf as the school year begins, and I plan to begin to use this blog to keep track of the wonderful reading experiences Henry and I are having together. I hope that our reading adventures are helpful to share with other parents of little ones, and that you out there can write in with some of your own reading experiences and questions, too.
An article from today’s New York Times is what finally motivated me to get back in the blogging saddle. There are just so many benefits to with reading with young children, some of which can be hard to quantify until they are a bit older. Over the past two months, Henry has started to love “reading” on his own…paging through books by himself on the floor of his bedroom, in his car seat, or his stroller…and it is just incredible to see him appreciating and valuing books, even when I am not guiding him through the experience. The other day, he spent thirty minutes in the car flipping through Good Night Gorilla and chuckling out loud each time he turned to the page on which the zookeeper’s wife turns on the light and sees gorilla in the bed next to her. Although he is far from an independent reader, these little signs that books are an important part of his world and something he can enjoy on his own make me so excited. I’m looking forward to sharing more of them in the weeks to come, but for now, I’m off to make dinner.
