A First

This past week I had the opportunity to introduce reading to several little girls who were recently dropped off at a children's home we serve. After hearing a snippet of their case history, I was pretty sure that no adult had ever read a story to them before in their entire lives.

So I brought a few books and just started reading. They weren't sure what to do at first. Should they just listen to me or look at the pictures? They chose the first, with their huge eyes just staring at me as I read. Honestly, I think they were shocked that I spoke spanish. After a few stories, their eyes shifted over to the pictures. They were captivated. They giggled. Their eyes got big.

And that was all it took because now I'm pretty sure they are hooked.

We read about 10 books. Several of the Eric Carl's were read 2 and 3 times each per their request.

And then the 4 year old decided to read to me. She had already memorized Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see?

I'm not a teacher. But my mom is. She read to me when I was little. She taught me. Orphans need someone to read to them. They need one on one time and attention. I hope and pray that the little boys who I read anywhere from 10 to 30 books each week to are going to repeat the cycle of reading to their own kids one day.

But now I'm hooked. I'm hooked to the thrill they get when they hear a story read for the very first time. Something inside of them just lights up. It's so simple yet so huge for their development.

Mom, thanks for reading to me. Thanks for all the trips to the public library. Thanks for reading Inside Outside Over There about 10,000 times. Thank you for making me read for an hour every day in the summer even though I hated it. Thanks for paying me in high school to read the same books that my 9 year old brother was reading. And thank you for buying books in Spanish for my boys. You never quit.