Fun With Literacy
So, Molly reads now. I keep running into weird little surprises-that-shouldn't-be-surprises about having a kid who reads. For instance, I no longer get to semi-peacefully read the comics with my morning coffee, because Molly steals them. If I don't fork them over, she comes over to my side of the table and patiently reads over my shoulder. I should try to cultivate an obsession with baseball statistics; I don't care if she steals the sports section.

She is obsessed with reading series book in order. There are about 130 Junie B. Jones books and the library is always out of the one book that's next in the series. Still, she's made it up to #12. Anyone remember the Boxcar Children? I had really, really fond memories of that book and the mystery series that came after it. I picked up Boxcar Children at Half Price Books for Molly, and re-read it while she was reading something else. It's one of the books that's much, much better when you're a kid, alas. Molly enjoyed it, though, and now wants to read the other books. There were only about a dozen books when I was a kid; they've now franchised the series and there are over a hundred. Naturally, Molly wants to read them in order.

When I call her, if she's reading, she doesn't hear me. Either that, or she's figured out that I'll cut her more slack for ignoring me when she's got her nose buried in a book.

When I was a kid, I used to crawl behind my parents' wing chair to sit right next to a heat vent, and read there. My parents thought this was weird and uncomfortable looking, but shrugged and installed a reading light. I spotted Molly on a heat vent once, but more often she takes one of the cushions off the love seat and sits on the springs, wedged between the armrest and the other cushion. At my school, I remember reading nooks that were made by taking some sort of large cardboard barrel, cutting a kid-sized hole near the bottom and installing a pillow. Molly would probably love something like that but (a) I'm not sure where you get those barrels, (b) I'm not sure where I'd put it, and (c) I'm really not sure where I'd put two (and I don't want to have to constantly mediate squabbles over who gets to sit in there).

Though she now spends most of her time reading chapter books, when we go to the library she seems a lot more comfortable browsing the picture books than the chapter books. When she gets to the chapter book section, she kind of seems at a loss for finding books, though she's happy to let me pull some books out for her. It occurred to me after our last library trip that I need to explain to her about reading the back. Honestly, I can understand why the children's section is kind of bewildering for her. There is a distinct level to her reading, but the chapter books are only slightly sorted by level. The series books are separate -- those seem to be mostly for the younger kids -- and then YA is segregated. But the juvenile chapter books are all shelved together, so mixed in with the stuff on Molly's level are books like Johnny Tremain, Anne of Green Gables, Arm of the Starfish, Number the Stars, etc. All excellent books, that I hope she'll read eventually, but over her head right now. If any of the librarians who read this (or anyone else, really) want to give me suggestions for teaching her to select books she'll like, or for identifying books at her level that I might not be familiar with, I'm very open to that idea. Or title recommendations, but bear in mind that she really needs books for young kids at this point. She LOVED the Molly books published by the American Girls company, and is starting in on the Kirsten books; they're exactly the right level for her.

Literacy means that suddenly she has access to information that was not mediated through me or Ed. So for instance, the other day she suddenly announced that she wanted curly hair and gave me an expectant look like she was waiting for my suggestions for fixing this problem. I told her that her hair is already a little bit curly and she dropped the subject. However, that evening I flipped through one of the Molly books (Changes for Molly) and discovered that Molly in the book wanted curly hair, considered a home permanent, and had her sister do pin curls for her. (I haven't the slightest idea how to curl hair, so alas, Molly will have to muddle along with semi-wavy hair for now.)

Literacy means she can read ads. "Hey, Mom," she said as she studied some stickers that came through the mail and Ed passed along to her. "Wouldn't you like a Patriots jacket? It's free!" (Free with a Sports Illustrated subscription.) And notes I leave for myself, and grocery lists, and the sign at the garden store that says "Corn Gluten Is Here!" She can read the sign on the door of our convenience store that says that only two kids are allowed inside at one time, and thought this meant she'd need to wait outside while I went in with Kiera, since she could see there was already a kid in there.

This also means that if we want to keep her quietly occupied on an outing, we can bring along a book for her to read. On the other hand, this means that she doesn't entertain Kiera. (On the other other hand, it means that she doesn't fight with Kiera, either.)

For some reason, she never has a bookmark handy when she needs one. So I'll call her to dinner, and she'll want me to get her a bookmark before she'll go wash her hands. Yesterday we made little bookmark cups: we cut bookmarks from paper and old cereal boxes, and Molly and Kiera decorated them with markers and stickers. Then we stuck them into cups and stashed them around the house in spots where Molly likes to read.

Of course, she hasn't had occasion to use these because she's read all the books we have out from the library. Luckily, we're going again tomorrow.