Read and Repeat

This morning I read Matthew Van Fleet’s Tails 5 times in a row.  Then Capone read it by himself at least 3 more times.  I tried to convince him that we could read something else, I let him get out all of the downstairs books, I let him go through my books, but all he wanted to read was Tails.  This isn’t really new.  He’s read it so many times that the fox tails that move have fallen off.

Since I teach children’s literature, people are always asking me what my favorite books are.  In all honestly, I most work with adolescent literature, so many of my favorites aren’t really books that Capone is ready for yet.  Capone, however, has recently developed some very clear preferences.  So here are the types of books that he reads over and over again.

He reads a lot.  He reads books in the morning while we are getting ready.  He reads big books and little books.  He prefers to have a big book that he props up on his feet while he is laying on his back.  He reads board books and regular books.  He does a good job turning the pages and despite all of my students worry that babies will rip up books, he rarely tears a page.  In fact this morning he accidentally ripped out a page of The Animal Boogie and instantly brought it to me upset that it wouldn’t go back in the book.

The children’s literature scholar in me is really fascinated by the books he gravitates toward.  He loves The Sneetches and The Lorax, but he doesn’t really like The Cat in the Hat. For those who know Theodore Geisel aka Dr. Seuss, The Sneetches and the Lorax are both ideologically driven (one is about discrimination, the other is about the environment), but the Cat in the Hat was a “learn to read” book.

He loves books about animals, Tails, Zoe and Her Zebra and  That’s Not My Penguin will entertain him for a long time.  Zoe and Her Zebra is an Alphabet board book, but it is one of the few books that we have that demonstrates diversity (gender, ethnic, ability) but is not about diversity.  It’s about animals.