Thursday, June 16, 2011

Her Own Stories



Jacob and Annabelle love books. We read all the time. Now that Jacob can read pretty much anything on his own, his love of books has exploded. When Jacob was Annabelle's age, he memorized his favorite books, word for word. He couldn't read yet, but if you handed him a copy of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, he could "read" you every word. He knew the story by heart. When reading to him, if I ever skipped or changed a word, Jacob knew it and promptly brought it to my attention.

Now, with Annabelle, we have an entirely different story. Where Jacob is usually very logical and methodical, Annabelle is more of a "free spirit." This is even apparent when we read together.

If it's a book they know well, sometimes I'll read the first part of a phrase and let the kids complete the sentence. Jacob always gives me the words written on the page. Annabelle, instead of telling me the second part of the sentence, tells her own story. Let's take Good Night Moon, for example. One of their favorite lines from the book is "...and a quiet old lady whispering 'hush'..." So, I say, "...and a quiet old lady whispering.............." Jacob answers immediately, "hush!" in a loud whisper, then we move on with the story. Not Annabelle.

ME: "...and a quiet old lady whispering......."
ANNABELLE: "Da yady is wocking in her chaaaay-er! She is behw-y, behw-y quiet. Yeah. Yook at da yittle mouse! Da yady says.....hussssssssshhhhhh!"

Even if she knows the story, she gets creative when she reads books and comes up with stories of her own. Very cute. And very different from her brother.

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