Catching Up

Isaac will be 4 in a few weeks. We started reading to him and buying him books on Day 1, so I have a lot of catching up to do if I am going to discuss stories that have made a connection with him. There have been many favorites over the past few years, some of which have been read thousands of times, or at least it feels like it. Here is a list of some books that Isaac has gone back to over and over, in no particular order:

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Go, Dog. Go! by PD Eastman
Curious George by HA Rey (and various sequels -- Curious George Makes Pancakes has been the most popular)
Where's Spot? by Eric Hill
Owen and Mzee Best Friends (board book abbreviation of Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship by Craig Hatkoff)
Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner
Casey at the Bat by Ernest Thayer, illustrated by Christopher Bing
Fun Dog, Sun Dog by Deborah Heiligman
The Great Fuzz Frenzy by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel
Corduroy by Don Freeman
We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen
I Stink! by Kate and Jim McMullan
Duck on a Bike by David Shannon
Tickle the Duck by Ethan Long
Hulk, The Incredible Guide by Tom DeFalco
Spiderman, The Ultimate Guide by Tom DeFalco

Many in the list you probably recognize. And some are newer titles with which you may not be familiar. Some of them have become favorites because Matt or I enjoyed reading them, which translated to Isaac becoming attached to them. And there are those that Matt and I groan over when we see them being pulled off of the shelf. Then there are the "Daddy books" that I refuse to read at bedtime. You can probably guess what those are.

I thought that I would be able to find a common theme in the list when I started this post, but in looking at it now, I can't. Many of them get Isaac giggling so hard that he truly lives up to his name. Others are sweet, gentle stories. Some of them have a character that reminds Isaac of something in his own life and a few are just good "boy" books about superheroes or garbage trucks. But what I can say about them all is that Isaac has at some point picked them out as his book of choice. And that is probably what I would rate as the most important factor in reading with boys, or any children. Let them pick the books, at least some of the time. Even if it will take 30 minutes to read and you wanted storytime to last 10 minutes. And especially if it is a book that you would never pick out yourself. By validating his choices and supporting his interests, I hope that I am showing Isaac that reading is important to me. I have even suffered through a thorough reading of Hulk's various enemies and exploits during evening storytime because that is what he pulled off the shelf that night, and Daddy was conveniently absent.