My dad used to read to me almost every night. We worked our way through lots of classics, including the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, Winnie-the-Pooh, Little Women, Lord of the Rings, and Treasure Island.

I was a high energy kid, and sometimes I couldn’t sit still for the reading, so I jumped around the room and bounced on the bed. Dad would ask if I was listening, and I said yes (it was true), and he’d go on. Sometimes I’d curl up next to him and read the page myself as he read aloud. Somehow I couldn’t listen unless I was also doing something else, a trait which continues today. But I was definitely listening, and have fond memories of these books (except Treasure Island, which bored me).

Dad liked to do voices, and he read with great enthusiasm. But it was because he had a listener. When he retired, he tried recording books for the blind, and he said it just wasn’t the same.

1) Did your parents read to you when you were a kid? What did they read?
2) If you’re a parent today, do you read to your kids? What do you read?