The Joy of Reading Out Loud

By Belinda

They sat on our deck in the hot summer evening, sun drenched skin and hair signs of school let out. Freedom!

They chatted with their granddad out there for a long while, then came inside where I sat, tapping away on my laptop.

"I've been reading a great book," I said, "Do you want to read it together?"

"Sure!" they said and the laptop was set aside. One on either side we sat on the couch and I began to read from Jean Little's  Hey World, Here I Am!

The book is one that I bought to give as a gift but have not been able to part with until I have read it all! Although it is a children's book, I am loving it.

Torie and I, alternated reading the poems and prose out loud. We all laughed; related to and discussed the thoughts expressed.

"Are you liking this or am I forcing you to sit on the couch?" I asked, suddenly worried that they might want to leave but be too polite to say.

"No, this is fantastic," said Tippy.

Children's stories. Do we ever outgrow them? I haven't.

Tonight while sorting through papers in the very hot loft room at the top of the house, I found The Tale of Custard the Dragon. I read it for the first time when Susan gave me that very copy because it has a girl named Belinda in it--and she even has a yellow dog.

I procrastinated by reading it again!

Here it is in video form in case you would also like to hear it. Enjoy it with one of the children in your life.

Here's to the summer and reading out loud.

Comments

Susan said…
I still remember my mom reading that poem to me. That would be over fifty years ago now. I couldn't stop giggling then and I can't stop smiling now!
5:21 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Voyage

Image
Note from Belinda: I read this prayer yesterday and again today--and then I read it to Susan after cell group, when we were having our "second cup" of decaff coffee together. I knew that she'd love it. She has a framed picture on her office wall of a little blond haired girl in a sail boat on a stormy sea. A fatherly sailor,with a weather beaten face; in a gray sou'wester, holds her close, as he capably mans the tiller. This prayer reminds me of that picture and influenced what I wrote earlier today, when I used the metaphor of ebbing waves to describe a lack of consistency and my desire to crash over the sandbar into the peaceful pool on the other side.  ( Susan sent me a link to the painting, which was done by American impressionist Robert Reid in 1888.  It hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in NYC.) Be bless ed by the beauty of this prayer. OH LORD OF THE OCEANS, My little bark sails on a restless sea, Grant that Jesus may sit at the
Read more

Ere Zij God--Glory to God in the Highest! A Dutch Carol

Image
By Belinda This beautiful Dutch carol was shared today by a friend of Dutch ancestry, on Facebook. I had never heard it before but absolutely loved it. It moved me deeply, especially at the end after the crowd leaves the church and then breaks into spontaneous singing again around a brazier, with the sound of chiming church bells in the background. Listen to it with headphones or a good speaker to get the full effect of the harmonies. And happy first Sunday in Advent!
Read more

Samson Beaver and his Family

Image
I first posted this in 2009, a little show and tell about one of my favourite photographs. Back then it hung on a wall, but now it's in my bathroom where I see it every morning! I'd forgotten the history behind the story, researched when I first posted this and thought that current readers might enjoy it--a story from a time when this land was still being discovered, not so very long ago. This photograph was taken by Mary Schaffer; artist, photographer, writer and naturalist, in 1907. It is of a Stoney Indian named Samson Beaver, with his wife Leah and daughter, Frances Louise. I bought the photo on a postcard, on a trip to British Columbia and it hangs framed, on the wall I face when sitting at my laptop. I love it. Don't you just feel as if you could gather Frances Louise up in your arms and cuddle her? I get a deep sense of peace and happiness when I look at this family, sitting in the grass of a long ago fall. They are dressed in their best, beautiful c
Read more