Story Time

As an English teacher I knew that it was important to facilitate a love for reading at an early age. Even when my son was still in my womb I read him stories. Naturally when he came out, I knew I would be reading to him. Ironically though whenever I read to my baby boy, he cried and cried. When Noah became more mobile every time I started reading a book to him, he would grab the book and hurl it as far as he can from him. I would retrieve the book and start again, and he would grab the book and hurl it as far away as he could again. He probably thought it was a game.

I gave a heavy sigh. How can my son, the son of an English teacher, not be interested in books? He was surrounded by them, but couldn’t be bothered with hearing any of the stories waiting to be told. Sometimes I would have play dates with my friends’ children and read stories to them. They would eat every word, while I watched my son playing with his trucks, with the opposite shoe on the wrong foot. I worried for my son’s future. If he didn’t care for books now, what was to become of him when he started school? Would he become one of the many misguided teens I teach because they were poor readers? I feared for his bleak future.

Upon a recent visit my sister gave Noah Tikki Tikki Tembo, a book about a boy with a really long name signifying that he was the first and most honored son. I remembered loving this book when I was a child and hoped that my son would love it too. I lifted Noah on to my lap and proceeded to read him the book, this time however I decided that I would make up a new story starring Noah, using the pictures as a guide. What once used to be a story about Tikki Tikki Tembo, his brother: Chang, his mom, and the old man were now about Noah, his cousin: Jossiah, grandma and pop-pop.

And for the first time, Noah listened and followed along with the whole story. He didn’t cry. He didn’t throw the book across the room. We read Where the Wild Things Are and many other books this way for a while. Slowly I started reading parts of the actual story to him. Before he knew it, I was reading many books word for word, and before I knew it, reading had become one of his favorite past times.