I'll stop reading my favorite books

Lyric courtesy of Alanis Morrisette, and my new favourite lyrics page.

I know you've all heard me talk about how TFYO loves to read. Matter of fact, you're probably sick of me talking about it, but that's just too bad.

We recently found out that she's reading on a fourth grade reading level, which is great, but it's also posing some problems for us that we just never anticipated.

It all started a few weeks ago. I was reading an article online about the millions of women left single in Britain after WWI. It was really a fascinating article about how at a time when women were expected to get married and produce children, some six million women never had that option because so many men of their generation had been killed or so horribly wounded that they couldn't (or wouldn't) marry.

The title of the article was "6 Million Virgins".

Little did I know, but TFYO had crept up behind me and was reading over my shoulder.

"6 Million Ver-gins," she said. "Mommy, what's a ver-gin?" She pronounced it with a hard "G" sound.

"Uh, well, um, uh...in this case it refers to a woman who has never gotten married."

"Has Auntie Jill ever been married?" I didn't like where this was going.

"No, she hasn't."

"Is she a ver-gin?"

"Um, it's pronounced 'virgin', and I think you should just forget about it for now."

Thankfully, she's still at an age where she will drop things if you distract her. But I can't wait for the next time Auntie Jill comes to visit. Hey girl, you've been warned.

I've also discovered that I have to hide some of my more... adult books. Not that I've got a collection of erotica or anything, just books that have cursing, sexual situations, violence. We recently got a copy of Ken Burns' The War, as a companion to the TV documentary he did. That book is filled with pictures and descriptions of violence that she's not ready for. But when she saw the book, she homed in on it like pigeon, and howled like a wounded animal when I took it from her.

One day I found her reading Bob Novak's biography "Prince of Darkness". Ray was supposed to be interviewing him, and had left a preview copy laying on the table. when I found TFYO, she was reading me all the captions from the pictures!

I knew when she was little we'd have to monitor her television watching, but I never dreamed I'd have to start putting the grown-up books on high shelves just yet. She's already decided my Harry Potter books are hers now, and she keeps asking when she can read them. When I tell her she needs to be a bit older, she says she'll wait until she's five.

I love this and I'm terrified by this.

Any advice?

Friday Five

My husband told me about TFYO's day at school yesterday. Apparently when he got there to pick her up, she was sitting cross-legged on the floor surrounded by her classmates, and she was reading them a book. So, today's Friday Five is dedicated to my child's love of reading to anyone who will listen to her. I think The Rotten Correspondent may have already done this for a Thursday Three, but I'm doing it anyway.

Five Favourite Childhood Books


1. The Paper Bag Princess, by Robert Munsch and Michael Martenko

I was in Grade two, and this was my favourite book that year. It's about a Princess named Elizabeth who lives in a marvelous castle and has a handsome boyfriend, until a dragon comes along and burns up her stuff and steals the boyfriend, Ronald. She dons the only thing left unburnt, which is a paper bag and goes to get Ronald back. She learns a lesson about pretty boys, and self-reliance. Looking back, I wish these lessons had stuck with me a little better when I was in my twenties. It's now one of TFYO's favourite night-time reads.


2. Frog and Toad are Friends, by Arnold Lobel

I was an early reader, and this was one I had from kindergarten on. It's a grouping of sweet stories about Frog and Toad, and the nice things they do for each other because they are friends. It doesn't matter if it's looking for a lost button, or Frog writing Toad a letter because Toad is bemoaning the fact that he never gets any mail, they always look out for each other.I always had trouble making friends, and so these stories always gave me hope, even as a little kid.


3. The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

I loved all of the Little House books. Sure, she glossed over some of the more serious matters, but Wilder also gave me a little insight into what it was like to live between 1870 and 1890. I had the whole series, but this one was my favourite, even though it is the bleakest. The family is trapped in town, cut off from the outside world by a series of blizzards. I can still remember reading this book, snuggled down in my bed, with snacks around me, listening to the winter howling outside my own window. I think it was my Grandma and Grampa who bought me the box set of the books when I was about nine years old or so. I can't wait to buy the series for TFYO.


4. Hop on Pop, by Dr. Seuss

One of the very first books I can remember having read to me, and reading myself. Its silly and short rhymes make for easy reading by even the youngest kids, and I used to crack myself up reading some of the pages. "No, Pat, NO! Don't sit on THAT!" This is also dear to me, because I remember whispering to my little brother when we were small "Hop on Pop" early in the morning, and we'd go jump on our Dad. He wasn't really amused. But I was. This one has been in TFYO's library so long the pages are now dog-eared. She's way beyond reading at this level now, but she still likes to pull it out, and laugh along with the poems every now and again.


5. A tie:


Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume

I first read this in sixth grade. I had gone through puberty waaaay before my peers, but I understood Margaret's anxiety. I moved around a lot as a kid, so Margaret trying to fit in at a new school resonated with me. And it was considered slightly naughty by some of the more matronly mothers I knew, which made it that much more attractive. I liked reading about Margaret finding her self-confidence. It helped me fake some of my own, even when I felt like I didn't have any.


The Cat Ate My Gymsuit, by Paula Danziger

This booked tied here, because it's a lot like "Are You There God,", in that it deals with a young woman feeling uncertain. I was never skinny, and like Marcy, I always felt big, ungainly and kind of stupid, even though looking back, I know I wasn't. I also appreciate the relationship she has with her English teacher in this book, because it reminds me of countless teachers who encouraged me, and let me know it was okay to be smart, even if other people didn't like me for it.

TFYO isn't ready for these books, yet, but I'm going to be so happy to share them with her when she is.


So, that's my Friday Five, let's hear what books shaped your minds as kids. Which one of you will be the first to admit to Mad Magazine?