Read to me progress report

Sass and I have been progressing in the Read to Me challenge, and I feel like I'm right in the middle of success and failure.

Since we already read so much, I decided to use the challenge to read more plain ole picture books to my Sass. We started by simply letting her choose books from her bookshelf.

Success! We're now reading several picture books a day (except today, since Ryan and Olivia were here to play for several hours). It's been working quite well. She has complete control over what we read during "our time," and I think she likes it. She is also quite pleased that during this reading time, it's usually just the two of us. She loves her brother, but . . . well, time apart is sometimes a good thing. She loves the extra individual attention, and (to be perfectly honest) I love spending the extra time with her.

Failure. Since I decided to let her do the choosing, we're reading the same Clifford books over and over and over. Yawn! I have memorized Clifford the Firehouse Dog, Clifford and the Big Storm, Clifford's Kitten, and Clifford's Manners. There are more, but you get the idea. All Clifford, all the time.

Since we've started to develop the habit of reading these picture books, I have decided to take more of a role in choosing. She can certainly still choose some, and I'm sure that Clifford will be part of it. We just have so many great picture books that it seems shameful that we're only using a handful.

Here are some of the ones that I'm planning to feature this week.

The Napping House by Don and Audrey Wood. One of Sass's favorites, and I'm actually quite surprised that she hasn't chosen this one on her own. Repetitive, but it has great rhythm, and I think that those are the main reasons Sass likes it so well.

Weslandia by Paul Fleischman. One of Spyder's favorites as well, but I don't remember whether I've read it to Sass or not. The illustrations are excellent, and the whole plot is just so imaginative that I can't see anyone not enjoying it.

Rapunzel by Paul Zelinsky. Again, one of Sass's favorites, and it's one she would probably choose herself if she could get out of the Clifford rut. We used to read it regularly before we started on chapter books at night.

My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss. I used to read this to Spyder regularly, but it just never became one of the ones in Sass's collection. It actually helped Spyder quite a bit in being able to define his emotions at an early age, and I think his self-awareness is all the better because of it.

The Parable of the Lily by Liz Curtis Higgs. It seems only appropriate since Easter is only a few weeks away. I also like that it teaches a good lesson in patience as well as in understanding that one can't make a judgment call without knowing all the facts.

Olivia by Ian Falconer. Quite a precocious pig, one that Sass has can recognize in herself. She can relate to Olivia, and she likes hearing about her misadventures. This book has never been one of our mainstays, but it should be.

I've already pulled out these titles and put them in our book basket, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow when we can get started!