oh, man Ultramarina! i sooo *wish* my parents hadn't given up with me on fiction. as an adult, i feel horribly stunted in that respect and even though i've tried to fill in some of the gaps, i still feel like i don't quite get the rhythm of a lot of literature... mercifully, life is not over yet!
and ha! thanks for reassuring me that i haven't messed up my kid - i didn't mean to sound *quite* so dire! i guess what i mean is that i can almost see a little flow chart in my head about how we got here.
originally, we had a kid who LOVED books and was decoding early, but never once picked up a book on her own and tried to read it herself. that seemed a little weird, but honestly for several years it was no big deal since she was so little. she would beg us to read to her and we did - constantly - according to interests and comprehension.
which... gave us a kid with an adult vocabulary who had no time for the school's learn-to-read books by the time she got to Pre-K. in her mind, reading was for meaning - and, not surprisingly, she found no meaning in school readers! so instead, i asked her to try chapter titles and headlines, shampoo bottles and book blurbs.
which... within months gave us a kid who was destroying chapter books.
which... has given us a kid who is finally excited about the fact that she can read the stuff we used to have to read to her - hence the need for more "meat" to feed this beast (which in no way has to be "adult" literature - just richly imagined, and fun!)
ha - now i'm super-OT on my own post. sorry, all!
back on topic - i meant to mention The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics, which is a fun little book inspired by Flatland (thanks Aquinas)! we got it for DD as a stocking stuffer - and it's been a HUGE hit. highly recommend it for anyone with a mathy kid who likes puns (we heard this a lot over the holiday: "To the vector go the spoils!" /dies laughing)
