100 Books

Note: I share this post with permission from my, now 15 year old, daughter. We homeschooled her for  two school years, a decision that was challenging, but helped us to better understand and support our special learner.  This is the last post for the blog we started so many years ago with the hope of sharing our adventures in learning. 

We spent that first year of homeschool struggling so much with reading that I realized that for us,  the word reading was a part of the word “dreading”. One little letter and the words are worlds apart.  So I began to use part of our time each day to read books to her that she chose from the library or her own collection.  Some of those first books were picture books and we would make a deal, I read one page and she read the other.  

There were books that she could read and she would read over and over, and depending on the day she might stumble, or it would go smoothly or she would get frustrated and stop.  I waited for her as she sounded out letters and would hear her frustration when those letters were strangers to her and she so desperately wanted to be friends with them. But hearing stories like those of Amelia Bedelia made her laugh and reminded her that everyone makes mistakes. While different letter combinations were strangers, characters like Amelia were friends, reliable and relatable.  We read How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World and we made an apple pie and moved our fingers across our great map of the world.  We read Grandfather’s Journey and learned about Japan, WWII, and what it means to be an immigrant.  We read a book by Marjory Stoneman Douglas and learned about the Everglades before we went to visit the park that year. We learned about slavery from a few great picture books including one about Harriet Tubman, where I literally broke down in tears trying to read it to her.   

When the school year began the next year we set a new challenge for ourselves. We would read 100 books together.  With our weekly visits to the library we both thought it was very doable and were so excited. That school year I worked part-time and we discovered that audiobooks were the perfect way to spend fifteen minutes in the car while commuting in the afternoons. Audiobooks opened up a whole new world for my kid. Interesting conversations, new vocabulary, history, adventures. 

I knew that our reading life had changed something profoundly in our relationship when after falling short of the 100 books that school year, having only read 63, she agreed that we would keep going until we reached that goal.  By this time she was back in school with a reading teacher who took over reading lessons. We slowed the pace as we transitioned to longer chapter books that took us weeks to listen to in the car on the way to school. Our new routine involved researching in goodreads to find books that would get us both excited, going to the library, and occasionally paying late fees.  The best part was sharing my favorite author as a child, Judy Blume, with Kate. I was so happy to see her love Judy Blume’s books as much as I did. We discovered the series by Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events.  When in doubt we went with something from Roald Dahl or Beverly Cleary.

Recently, when I attended a book reading by a best selling author, I looked around the auditorium and noticed a familiar face. It was Judy Blume sitting in the audience, trying very hard not to draw any attention to herself.  For many of us, supposedly grown- ups now, we were starstruck at the sight of this woman who had contributed to us becoming readers. All I could think of, while feeling like a giddy fifth grader, was: I can’t wait to tell Kate!  The next morning when I told her, her reaction was over the top with excitement. That’s when it hit me that we’ve really come a long way; a child that dreaded reading now thinks of an author as a rock star and a mom that was worried about her child’s reading skills, letting go of expectations and experiencing the joy of just being together with a great book.

On September 19, 2019 we celebrated reaching our goal-100 books!  We both were so proud because it represented hundreds of hours that we carved out, that we took back, reclaimed from busyness and boredom. It represents a real commitment to a goal and not giving up no matter how long it would take us. 

 Our 100th book was,  Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin.  Ming Le is a brave girl, growing up in a poor village. She loves her parents and knows they are doing their best, but the stories that are passed down to her by her father, make her question if she could change her circumstance by seeking answers outside her village.  Inspired by these stories she embarks on an adventure that ultimately changes her fate and that of the whole village. In much the same way, reading together these past few years has enriched our lives beyond anything we thought. We also embarked on an adventure, following the wisdom, joy and pleasure of each story we encountered and that journey has led us back home to see just how lucky and blessed we are to have each other. 

Mom’s Top 5 Books-

The Inquisitor’s Tale by Alan Gidwitz(#99- 5/17/19)

The Watson’s go to Birmingham (#92-6/5/18)

The Best Christmas Pageant (#82-11/28/17)

The BFG (#45 2/5/16)

Thank you, Mr. Falker (#21 10/14/16)