Some of the best reading I’ve done lately has been to
my boys, aged six and eight. They’ve listened rapturously to Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory, James and The Giant Peach, five of the Little House on the Prairie books and Charlotte’s Web. Most recently we’ve
become immersed in Alice in Wonderland.
I wasn’t sure if they would be put-off by the old language, but I chose the book because it has a chess game in the story and both my boys are really in love
with chess. After stumbling through the first chapter where every time I said ‘looking
glass,’ both boys chimed in with ‘What’s a looking glass?’ I realized I just
had to update the language and both boys were hooked.
We’re only on chapter
four, but already both of my boys have been taken in by the talking (and rude!)
flowers, and bizarre insects. They especially love the ‘bread and butter fly’
and the ‘rocking horse fly.’ Although the boys are fascinated by the idea of a book that is more than a hundred years old, to them the
story is fresh and new.
