The Adventures of Reading Tom Sawyer
Posted
July 30, 2008 at
12:09 am by
Rita
I had gotten it my head that I was going to read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer aloud to my two older children this summer. This decision was made largely because I had never read it myself. I knew the story, of course, from its many incarnations on television and in school plays during my youth. It was common in that time for renditions of this story to be presented at every turn. But, that was back in a different time. It seems it was gentler time, a simpler time, perhaps one best described as: childhood. Anyway, I was required to read Huck Finn in high school and it was one of my most favorite books ever, so I had some regrets about never having read the original Tom Sawyer. Since we all want our children to have what we never did, I was hell-bent on reading them this book, so they would be grateful when they are (hopefully!) made to read its sequel later on their educational paths.
“I don’t want to listen to that book, mom!” My nine-year-old daughter (aka, “the girl”) whined.
“Mom, I can read it on my own… later… maybe… it looks like it sucks, mom,” said the thirteen-year-old son (aka, “the boy”).
“I don’t care, it’s one of the most famous, best books ever written and you’re going to listen to it,” I said.
“I have a headache,” whined the girl, “can’t I just go to bed?”
“No, “ I said, “get your pillows.”
“You can’t make a kid sit and listen his mother read a book to him, mom. There has to be some law against that. That’s like some form of abuse, I think,” the boy moaned.
“I don’t care, call the police, tell them I’m abusing your ears by making you listen to Tom Sawyer, but do it after I read the first few chapters. Grab yourself a pillow, find some space on the floor. Here we go.”
The first chapter went well. There were some complaints from the audience about difficulty in understanding the local vernacular the characters used. I told them to hush up and listen, it’s one of the most famous and best books ever written, dammit.
“Here, this ‘Chapter Two’ is one of the most famous things in all of American literature,” I said.
“’Chapter Two’ is famous?” the boy mocked, “wow, I’ve read ‘Chapter Two’ hundreds of times, can I go now?”
“No,” I said and proceeded to read them the chapter about whitewashing the fence. The thing about this book is, while the characters speak in native tongue, the narrative is quite upper-crust in its voice.
“Did you follow what was going on?” I asked the girl, “Did you understand what happened?”
“Yes… ” she started to explain what she heard.
“This is just like on Fairly Oddparents,” the boy interrupted, “they had an episode where… “
“No,” I interrupted him, “Fairly Oddparents is just like this, this was written in the 1800’s, this is the loooongstanding precedent.”
“Whatever,” he said, “Fairly Oddparents had an episode where they popped Tom Sawyer out of the book and Cosmo traded his wand to help paint the fence.”
The girl nodded enthusiastically in agreement with him.
“Yesssssss,” I hissed, “and do you know why they popped Tom Sawyer onto Farily Oddparents? Because it’s one of the most famous and best books ever written.” I set the book down, exhausted by this whole endeavor. “OK, well that’s enough for tonight, you guys can go off and do what you want.”
The kids looked at each other.
“Can we hear one more chapter tonight, mom?” The girl asked.
“Or two?” Asked the boy.
Sometimes children need to be (figuratively) tied down and have literature (literally) shoved down their throats, because good is good and it speaks for itself. They just need some help to get started every once in a while.
Tags: exposing kids to literature, reading aloud to children, Tom Sawyer |
8 Responses to “The Adventures of Reading Tom Sawyer”
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1. Ann Marie said:
July 30, 2008 @ 10:51 am
LOL. I can relate, everytime I’ve presented one of my childhood favorites I’ve had to force it upon the kids. And really, Fairly Oddparents is a great show, they’ll try to force that upon your grandchildren.
2. Rita said:
July 30, 2008 @ 11:32 am
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=125858&title=norm-macdonald
3. Allison G_MOD said:
July 31, 2008 @ 2:20 pm
Sheesh! It’s not like you were trying to ready Tolstoy to the kids!
Glad you stuck to your guns, Rita. I loved Tom Sawyer. Maybe you could quiz them on the story; like a game show at home with a big wipe off board and “buzzers” (bike horns or cowbells) and they could win prizes. They might have fun with that and then you could read them other famous literature pieces.
Or on a smaller scale, if they listen respectfully each night, when the book is over you can let them rent whichever movie-version of Tom Sawyer they choose to compare the movie vs. the book. (There’s a lot of different movie-versions. Our teacher in 5th grade let us watch 3 different versions once we finished the book and the big test.)
4. Allison G_MOD said:
July 31, 2008 @ 2:21 pm
Read, not ready. Oops.
5. Rita said:
August 2, 2008 @ 10:25 am
6. SHS said:
August 2, 2008 @ 10:36 am
GOOD FOR YOU! Of course your kids will moan and groan, but they will remember that you read the book to them always. Good Mom you are!
My kid was an avid, accelerated reader and my thing was I would always read aloud the first 2 chapters to her. It was a great time to be together with her, and it I think it really turned her into the book lover that she is.
KUDOS!
I think parents stop reading to their children to early.
7. Stacey S_MOD said:
August 5, 2008 @ 3:42 pm
I’m grateful that my son inherited my appreciation of books (although he dislikes reading the books the school chooses for him). We LOVED reading the Shel Silberstein books when he was a little guy. I swear I’ve purchased ‘Where the Sidewalk Ends’ & ‘A Light in the Attic’ SO many times as gifts I should receive an honorary discount!
I do wish I had a little girl to impart my two all time favorites to. ‘Little Women’ & ‘The Little House Laura Ingalls Box set’ I absolutely attribute my love of reading to those books! I’m very excited to go to ‘The Orchard House’ tomorrow where Louisa May Alcott lived.
I say good for you for imparting the classics onto your children. They may not appreciate it now, but they will always remember it, and so will you!
8. Rita said:
August 5, 2008 @ 4:10 pm
As an update, the boy has taken Tom Sawyer and is reading it to himself. I am still reading it to the girl, but we’re kind of slow going since the Little Miss contest that her taekwondo school has sponsored her in has started up. And, in case nobody notice, I wrote an essay about that. It’s taking up a ton of time from now until either coronation or next year (if she places).