Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion A wonderful librarian anecdote

I had the pleasure of chatting with one of our librarians this week who impressed me in her openness and honesty about early ability. With the library around the corner, we drop by at least once a week, and I practically return books by the cart at the rate my son reads. Needless to say, we're familiar faces.

If left to set the pace, DS will ask me to read one book after another by title for upwards of 4 hours. Ask me how I know this...I was curious one day this week and indulged him until he hit his limit. I think every stuffed animal--and several of his trucks-- read or acted out a book. Frankly, it was a lot of fun!

The librarian was delighted at this! She focused on his passion for books and the excitement it brings him, taking my comments completely at face value, which was refreshing after dealing with her snarky colleague--the children's librarian-- previously. She said she wouldn't be surprised, given his obvious love of books, if he stared reading soon and offered a few examples of children who had done so after exhibiting an extreme love of books. She referenced 2 as being an age where she had seen early readers spurt. (Whenever he reads will be fine, provided it is at his initiative.)

What a wonderful librarian! She saw the joy of a little boy experiencing new and exciting worlds through books and didn't for a second project an ugly stereotype on our family. She understands that learning is like breathing to some children...it just...happens!

We are SO fortunate to have her.

How lovely!

That is so wonderful. I haven't found that one great librarian. Keep her close. I have made great use of the library's mobile app. It is the only way I can manage all the requesting, looking up of books, and keeping them all renewed. (We have about 75 books checked out right now.)

It is interesting what your librarian has observed. I have only seen it happen once with my own DD, but it was exactly as she described. DD was reading obsessed from about 8 months on. When she was a toddler we would read for an hour at a time multiple times a day. I always had a stack of books ready to go next to my chair. We started chapter books because of the practicality of it.

Now she reads to herself for at least an hour a day. She will easily read a magic treehouse or rainbow magic book in one sitting. At the library, while I am looking for books, she will choose and read story books for 30 minutes. She reads in the car. She reads before I wake up. I think it might be more unusual for her to be reading this much at this reading level than her actual reading level at this age.

Something I have noticed is that her comprehension and vocabulary exceed her decoding skill by itself. I think comprehension has always been the driving force in her reading development. She really has had zero reading instruction other than learning letter sounds and reading with us. But, we read a lot. Even, now, at four when free time is more scarce, we read to her at least 45 minutes a day at bedtime.

So, keep that love of reading going. A literacy professional/acquaintance once witnessed DD reading and commented on her "brilliant" pacing and ability to slightly modify her voice when reading dialogue. You can't teach that with flashcards and videos. Decoding will come. It is that passion for reading that needs to endure.

DS4 was obsessed with books from about age six months on. (I have an amusing anecdote that I've told here before about that and a daycare worker who just couldn't calm him when she worked with him.) We read to him a lot, and at 3.5, he started reading back. He's all about Captain Underpants and Ricky Ricotta right now. He would still rather have us read them to him than read them on his own, but he will spend an hour at a time leafing through them. He's going fast enough that I think it's unlikely he's actually reading, rather than just looking at the pictures, but I don't know for sure.

Leafing through a book for an hour at a time is great. I bet he is reading more than you think. There have been many times DD has read a book seemingly too fast. But, her retell was great. And, on closer examination, her little finger traces the lines and her lips move silently. You would be surprised by how much faster kids can read in their head at this level. They may be glossing over a word every now and then, but if they are enjoying the books, I think it is OK.

I couldn't agree more! A love of reading is a beautiful, lifelong gift. Thanks so much for the commiseration, ellemenope. I love hearing about your DD.

I can relate to every word in your post because it sounds like DS has similar preferences to your DD. The minute DS wakes in the morning, he scans the room for a book, then shouts out the title and "read it!"...no joke. Quite honestly, if he's asking, I'm happy to oblige, even if it means we don't get moving for the day until noon.

Like your DD, DS really caught onto books when he was an infant. DH and I had gotten in the habit of reading our own books out loud to him when I was pregnant, so I wonder if he's come to associate stories and discussion with nurturing.

We have books EVERHWHERE on low shelves that DS can access so he has constant access, and we probably have a good 75-100 library books checked out at any given time, in addition to several hundred books of our own. That might sound like a lot to some folks, but we read every book a few times each week, so the rotation is in constant use! (I think DH may wonder if the books spawn new ones overnight...)

More than anything, I try to make reading a game. I adore books. We act the stories out in character, read in silly voices, do a lot of dialogic reading, add embellished sound effects, etc. It's not so much that we're reading the books as living them, I feel. If we're not laughing or excited to read, then something is wrong.

As you say, the decoding is secondary to enjoyment. That will come in its own time. I'm not particularly convinced there's a need to sit down and teach c-a-t, etc. I read when I was 2 after my parents explained letter sounds, and DS is ahead of where I was because he already sought out the alphabet and phonetics himself. He's putting the pieces together...I'll leave it to him to set his own schedule.

Thanks for starting this thread!

My DS7 started reading at 2.5 and it has been quite a fun ride!

I am also working on my master's in library and information science. My main interests are archives and academic libraries, but for my reference class I just did a presentation on how libraries can support gifted readers.

I should post it somewhere and post the link here if you're interested.

That's adorable! I agree with ellemenope...I bet your DS is grasping most of the content.

It's funny you mention your DS' preference for being read to. My DS seems to have all his books mostly memorized now. If I leave out word or sentence at random, he fills it in verbatim, but he gets put off if DH or I make him tell too much of the story! Maybe that speaks to the fact that the perceived value our children derive from stories is primarily emotional, and the cognitive stuff is just a nice bonus?

That would be terrific, skateycat! If you're comfortable sharing the presentation, that's exactly the kind of information I love to read. Thanks for such a lovely offer!

I think I not-so-secretly wish I were a librarian...!

aquinas, your post reminded me of a fun reading time with DS:

I was laughing so hard I could not breathe! At bedtime, DS and I were reading a perfectly nice book, "A Bald Eagle's World" written and illustrated by Caroline Arnold. A few pages in, we decided to read each paragraph as a different character! Characters included: Count von Count of Sesame Street, a zombie, a vombie (vampire/dracula), a used car salesman, Adam Sandler as an old man underwater, William Shatner as James T. Kirk, Animal, Cookie Monster, and a yoga teacher.

Not what the author intended for her early elementary school non-fiction picture book on bald eagles, I'm sure! But it was awesome.