Monday, July 19, 2010

Too Many Tongue Twisters!

Every Monday, I read books to kids. Big books, cardboard books--they're happy as long as they can eat them and there are lots of colors. The kids themselves are pretty sweet; they don't scream, though do they get bored easily. Some of them stare weirdly, some like to talk about themselves, but all of them give you their full attention when you start reading. It's very different (and a relief) from my other volunteer groups. As much as I love the kids there, they're really rambunctious and like to pull pranks. Or just don't talk to you at all.

Usually I only have time to pick three books that I'll read to about three
or four kids (I only volunteer for an hour, so I don't real
ly have much time --
any more, and I might just lose my voice every week). Today, I made
the unfortunate mistake of picking Fox in Socks as one of the books.
Now, I love Dr. Seuss
and I love his rhyming, but he strings along tongue twister after tongue twister about the box on Knox or the stacks of clocks or the fox in socks. It was also the kids' favorite after Clifford's Don't Wake the Puppies (the other two books, Goodnight Moon and one about weather, weren't quite as popular), so I got to read the book in its entirety to two of the three kids.

That might not seem a lot to you, but it dried up my mouth much too quickly, and the kids were, shall we say, very entertained at my constant sputtering and general inability to say the right sentences. And I didn't think it, but reading aloud a kid's book is much harder than reading it in the head. But I got the hang of it (I'd be surprised if I'm not able to beat box the book now), and it was all in all a very fun experience.

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