"When you read a book as a child, it becomes part of your identity in a way that no other reading in you life does."
- Kathleen Kelly, You've Got Mail
Earlier this evening my oldest son was out walking around and came upon a tiny little bat sitting on a patch of snow out in the cold near. And when I say cold I mean really cold, about 10ยบ F without the windchill. He came home and following instructions he had gotten from a friend, he took a small box and towel back out to make a little nest that would help keep the bat warm. He went back out and put the box with the towel in it right next to the bat who scurried right in and got cozy. My son then moved the box with its little occupant to a more sheltered area.
Discussion of the bat and my son's good deed led us to talk about one of our favorite ever book series, The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins who also wrote the Hunger Games series. I read Gregor the Overlander (the first book in the series) to my two oldest kids about 8 or 9 years ago. We were all completely head over heels in love with these books. I remember that I couldn't help myself and I read ahead of the kids in one of the books. They found out and were so angry with me ... for YEARS! I had to solemnly swear to never read ahead again.
The Underland books (we simply call them all the Gregor Books) are a fantasy series involving a boy, Gregor, and his sisters who end up in the Underland that is populated by people who escaped down underground a few centuries earlier and animals of very different proportions than in our world. Bats, rats, and roaches are three of the main animal species that people interact with in the Underworld. I'm planning to re-read the series with my 10 year old soon and I'll write more about it then.
The point of all of this at the moment is that even 9 years later, whenever we stumble on the topic of these books, my kids get so excited and emotional over this series. The journey that these books took us on, the connection we all made with the characters and each other has not only stayed with us, but has given us this common emotional experience that I truly treasure, and I honestly think my kids do, too. Here they are, 18 and 15 year old boys, who get giddy with excitement and then filled with sadness remembering the characters and events in these books we shared. I remember picking the first book up in the Scholastic Bookstore in SoHo because I liked the cover and then reading the back and thinking my oldest liked fantasy books with animals as main characters. I thought it would be fun. It really turned into so much more reading them together. My 15 year old has even said that those books helped shape him. Every time I hear Meg Ryan say the line "When you read a book as a child, it becomes part of your identity in a way that no other reading in you life does." I really couldn't agree more. And when we read to our kids, we see it happen and it is one of the best things in the world.
The Underland books (we simply call them all the Gregor Books) are a fantasy series involving a boy, Gregor, and his sisters who end up in the Underland that is populated by people who escaped down underground a few centuries earlier and animals of very different proportions than in our world. Bats, rats, and roaches are three of the main animal species that people interact with in the Underworld. I'm planning to re-read the series with my 10 year old soon and I'll write more about it then.
The point of all of this at the moment is that even 9 years later, whenever we stumble on the topic of these books, my kids get so excited and emotional over this series. The journey that these books took us on, the connection we all made with the characters and each other has not only stayed with us, but has given us this common emotional experience that I truly treasure, and I honestly think my kids do, too. Here they are, 18 and 15 year old boys, who get giddy with excitement and then filled with sadness remembering the characters and events in these books we shared. I remember picking the first book up in the Scholastic Bookstore in SoHo because I liked the cover and then reading the back and thinking my oldest liked fantasy books with animals as main characters. I thought it would be fun. It really turned into so much more reading them together. My 15 year old has even said that those books helped shape him. Every time I hear Meg Ryan say the line "When you read a book as a child, it becomes part of your identity in a way that no other reading in you life does." I really couldn't agree more. And when we read to our kids, we see it happen and it is one of the best things in the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment