Reading aloud

We finished Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix a fortnight or so ago. For the uninitiated, that’s the fifth and most recently published of the Potter series. Number six appears in July. We were latecomers to the worldwide cult. About a year ago I began to read the first book to Ames, but she found it too scary so we stopped. In November last year I tried again when Gabes expressed an interest and this time Ames was fine with the spooky sections (or at least she happily left the room once or twice, but no more, bless her). At first it was pretty exhausting to read aloud, but I gradually built up stamina. By the second book I was enjoying putting on some of the voices and occasionally acting out the gestures. Any time possible was found to read more – a page here, a page there and so on, sometimes I might read thirty pages on a wet afternoon’s sitting punctuated by a cup of tea to give me a break. Mostly we’d sit on the sofa snuggled together with the sleeping bag over us. Occasionally I’d sit in the armchair opposite so that I could see their faces, look them in the eyes at key points (their wrapt expressions, particularly Gabriel’s, were a wonder, an image that remains in my memory, hopefully forever – Amy read ahead so she knew what was coming most of the time. Gabriel’s just now beginning to spy three letter words, beginning to write. Girls develop so much earlier!) I read to them when they were in the bath, a few times I read to them in their bed. For a short while after finishing Harry Potter, I was unsure what to read to them next, then I realised how many classics there were to read. We’ve just finished The Hobbit which I thought might be a little too old, but apparently not, so we’ll be reading The Lord Of The Rings soon. We then tried Peter Pan, but that did appear a little antiquated/challenging so we’re halfway through The Magician’s Nephew (the first book of the Chronicles of Narnia). At some point they’ll be too old for such things, but while it lasts it’s such a wonderful pleasure.