Excerpted
from Chapter Two of The Read-Aloud Handbook by
Jim Trelease (Penguin, 2013, 6th ed.)
rin had
no idea what a lucky girl she was when Linda Kelly-Hassett
and her husband, Jim, brought her home from the hospital
that Thanksgiving Day in 1988—but
she soon found out. A few years later, I found out, too,
when Erin's mom shared with me her journal of reading
experiences. Since I didn't keep such a document
with my own children, and since Linda began even earlier
than I did (ignorant parent that I was back in those
days), I think her words speak louder than anything I
might write in this space.
Linda had been an elementary-grade
teacher for twenty-two years when Erin was born, and
a devoted reader-aloud to her students. Everything she
did in class, and recommended to the parents of her students,
she applied to Erin. Not every parent has the time to
do all that Linda did, but if they did even half as much,
all children’s
futures would be brighter. In the print edition of The
Read-aloud Handbook, Linda shares her daily reading
diary.
Erin
Hassett in 2006
With
all of that reading, Erin's attention span
and interests grew by leaps and bounds. By four years
of age, she was listening to hundred-page novels along
with her picture books. When it came time to attend school,
Erin's mom decided to use her own years of professional
teaching experience and home-school Erin. Home schooling
wasn’t a political or religious issue with the
Hassetts; they felt that their only child should receive
the best they could possibly give her—a veteran
twenty-two-year teacher called Mom. Furthermore, with
the head start she received at home, much of her first
years in formal school would have been redundant and
probably bored her to tears. In the ensuing years, Linda
and Erin would be involved in weekly cooperative ventures
with other community home-schoolers, and by age twelve,
Erin began taking band and physical education at the
local middle school for 310 minutes a week.
Aware of the
bonding that occurs during read-aloud, as well as the
difference between a child's listening
level and reading level (more on that later), the Hassetts
continued to read to Erin.
"I don't want to read these dumb
books . . . "
Erin’s
progress in learning to read is a story in itself. After
expressing a desire at age five to know her letters and
sounds, she quickly mastered them but balked at formal
reading. Listening to Mom and Dad reading novels was
still a daily experience, but when her mother began to
press her about reading herself in first grade, Erin
declared, "I don’t want to read those
dumb books, those baby books (primers and easy-readers).
I'm not going to read until I can do chapter books."
Her
mother backed off—to a degree. There was a
local Head Start program of four- and five-year-olds
whom Linda and Erin had begun visiting as volunteers
once a week, and one of the activities was reading to
the children. Since the children quickly began to look
up to Erin, she hedged on her determination and agreed
to read some "big books" like Eric Carle's
The Very Hungry Caterpillar to these classes.
Obviously, Erin had learned how to read.
Finally, in the summer between
first and second grade, the Hassetts were visiting friends
who had a daughter three years older than Erin. Though
the two girls went to bed at the same time, Erin was
a night owl and not at all tired. When she was told she
could read in bed, the older girl gave her some chapter
books she had outgrown. The next morning, Erin came down
to breakfast, handed her mother a novel and said, "I
read that last night." Thinking she meant she had
glanced through it, Linda said that was nice and didn't
think more about it. When it happened with a second novel
the following morning, Linda asked her to read aloud
a chapter. Erin did, with perfect inflection, and didn't
miss a word.
y the end of third grade,
Erin was scoring in the ninety-ninth percentile in reading
and listening comprehension, as well as vocabulary—and
she had never done a workbook page in her life. Nearing
age twelve, she read the 732-page Harry
Potter and the Goblet of Fire in a weekend.
Through the years, thanks
to that initial letter from her mom, I've lunched
and dined with Erin, even interviewed her in front of
seminar audiences in Pennsylvania and Colorado. She is
poised, enthusiastic, articulate, talented, and one of
the most extraordinary young ladies I’ve ever known.
Despite her abilities and accomplishments, Jim and Linda
continue to read to her. By age 16, they'd done 652 novels
together. And far from being a bookworm, she loves swimming,
softball, and singing. In fact, in 2005, she was accepted
to Michigan's Interlochen Arts Camp vocal program, and
was grand prize winner of the Rocky Mountain District "Stars
of Tomorrow" competition
(won by Judy Collins back in 1958). Add to that several
years competing in "Odyssey of the Mind" competitions
and you've got an All-American kid.
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