Stories Retold

In this rush about, ever changing world, it's reassuring to experience occasional moments that give us a sense of continuity.  Change is a constant and remains one of the few things on which we can rely.

The arrival of grandchildren brings a nice touch of continuity to one's life.  My granddaughter is almost four and a half years old and lately I've been reading bedtime stories to her from one of the same books I read to my daughter.  This book has been around a very long time.  It was given to me by my Godmother when I was three; obviously, my mother read the stories to me.  Now this collection of little bedtime stories has found a new audience in a third generation listener.  I find this comforting and pleasantly familiar.

I enjoy reading out loud to a receptive audience.  Like everyone else, I've discovered many stories that appeal both to me and small children.  When my son was very young, a close friend of mine gave him a book I'd never heard of before.  The title alone was a kick:  "A Capital Ship" or " The Walloping Window-blind".  This is a poem written by Charles Edward Carryl.  http://theworld.com/~dduncan/poetry/capitalship.html  My son asked me to read this book to him constantly and got to the point where he could recite it in its entirety.  One day, I discovered that the phrasing of the words fit perfectly to the tune of the theme song from "Gilligan's Island".  This put a whole new spin on the book and made it even more entertaining.  My son is now a big, burly 16-year old but he still stops long enough sometimes to listen when I sing it to his little niece.

It's very gratifying to read the same stories you enjoyed as a child to a child or grandchild of your own.  It's been my experience that I still love the books and stories I read or had read to me when I was a little girl.  It's a simple, readily available, inexpensive way to carry on a fond memory and, hopefully, help instill the beginning glimmer of the concept of the joy of reading at an early age.

What are you reading?