Friday, March 2, 2012

Narnia and My Niece


I fell in love with The Chronicles of Narnia when I was in college. I never read these books as a child. A few years ago my husband gave me this beautiful bound version of all seven books from Barnes and Noble. I love love love it. It has gold edged pages and a ribbon bookmark.

My first grader niece is already an avid reader. She is also imaginative and brings her creativity to life in her artwork. I had a hunch she might enjoy Narnia. So I started reading them to her via Skype. I was right, she loved The Magician's Nephew immediately. We moved on to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and now we are in the middle of The Horse and His Boy. 


If you have a child in your family that loves to read, or even one who doesn't - you might want to give this a try. It works well even across the web. When you read aloud, make sure to use your voice well and make it exciting. Add hand gestures if you like. Shake your mane like Aslan. It's great fun. And ask your young reader questions so that they stay engaged and think about what you are reading. See if they can infer what might happen next. It's amazing what they come up with.

And most of all, make memories with your children that both you and they will cherish for a lifetime. I will always love this book because my husband was so thoughtful to give it to me. And I will love it all the more for the time spent reading it with my precious niece.

Happy Friday.