Jan
29
“The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea…”
January 29, 2013 | Tagged children's literature, cooperj, learning, reading | 3 Comments
“…In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
‘O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!”
~ Edward Lear, “The Owl and the Pussy-cat”
This peculiar love story written by Victorian nonsense poet Edward Lear is one of the first things I remember my father reading to me when I was young and learning how to read. Reading of was the upmost importance among the list of skills I needed to learn and perfect in my formative years. Tying my shoes, that’s an easy fix with slip-ons or Velcro. Packing my own lunch, well luckily my mom was a five star peanut butter and jelly chef. But reading, that was a necessity in my household. I was the first child, so my parents had never had to teach anyone to read before.
My best guess is that the prevailing model of the time was to read as much to your young developing children as possible and work your way to having them read along with you until they can read a whole story to you by themselves. This is the approach my parents took, and I have to say, it worked quite well. I definitely caught the reading bug. Every night before I went to sleep, my mom or dad would read some poems or short stories with me, and it became such an integral ritual that I refused to go to bed unless one of them had the time to sit down with me.
Maybe it was the material, like the whimsical Edward Lear, that got me so excited and motivated to read. Joining Lear in my list of favorite bedtime stories were Madeline, a picture book of Lewis Carroll’s The Jabberwocky and a variety of fairy tales. I think another part that made learning to read so important and memorable to me was that it provided very special bonding moments with my parents.
I’m sure everyone was taught to read through different techniques, but I consider my parent’s chosen method extremely effective. They ended up raising an English major who is focusing her thesis research on the same texts that they used to teach me to read in the first place. Something great must have stuck!
Comments
3 Comments so far
I also value the memories I made when reading with my parents before bed. Two of my favorite books are Marcella and the Moon and Green Eggs and Ham. I think part of the reason I still love those books so much is that I love the way my dad used to read them to me. Each time it was different and each time I asked him to read them again! Great post!
I too found great excitement delving into those fairy tale worlds that my parents would read to me as a young child. I think that it is those kinds of stories that get the reading bug going in most kids because it shows them that reading is not all bout letters and words but that the it can be about really cool and awesome stuff to. Great post.
Jessy, you *have* to share more with us in class about your senior thesis! What’s your critical angle on these children’s books?
It strikes me that this post really connects to your comments in class last week (on the literacy metaphors) about, well, connection and conversation. This recollection takes up the idea you were beginning to flesh out of reading as a site of shared experience, not just a social transaction.
Clearly, as the class’ blog posts indicate, you’re not alone in remembering the closeness you found to your parents through reading!