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OK, so maybe we're a little late to the party, but can I tell you? My son is so into Harry Potter right now, it's becoming a problem. He has declared that the back yard will soon be transformed into Hogwarts, complete with Quidditch Field, a lake, the castle itself, and Hagrid's house. The other night, he listed for a friend of mine the titles to each of the seventeen chapters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. In order. Correctly.
The boy is 5 and a half--he's going into Kindergarten at the end of August. He's an avid reader himself, but for fun, we began reading HP aloud to him and his sister a few weeks ago. Both kids are enjoying it so much, that now my daughter will read a chapter to her brother some evenings. My son, then follows the reading aloud with his own review of the chapter, re-reading the spoken parts with the inflection and emphasis that he thinks each statement or utterance required before he shuts his light out for the night. It's actually funny as hell!
But it's a bit of a chore. I'm no longer "Mom," I'm now to answer only to the title, "Professor McGonagall." Or, when the boy's feeling saucy, "Minerva" will do! The friend to whom he recited the chapter names? She's now Mrs. Weasley. My daughter is Hermione, hub is Professor Dumbledore, and my brother? Hagrid.
He's insistent that the drainage ditch on the side of our driveway be filled with water, to serve as the moat. Of course, procuring alligators for said moat has proven to be a challenge that even his careful consideration hasn't yet been able to satisfactorily address. He's collecting cardboard and scraps of plywood--to build the castle, of course. When we suggested that perhaps the swingset out in the yard (you know, the one with a tower? That hub built?) would serve as a perfect castle, he bemoaned the idea..."that's not a castle. That's a swingset." He's still trying to figure out how to do movable staircases.
He wants robes. Black ones. And a cloak. An invisibility cloak--one that he has demanded requested be produced at Christmas time. He already has a magic wand (courtesy of electrical tape, a dowel, and the crafty ingenuity of hub), and the other night drew a lighting bolt on his forehead with a sharpie.
He IS Harry Potter. He IS! And my statement last night to the contrary, followed by the suggestion that he use his imagination to dream up some of the Hogwartish elements that he'd like to see in our yard was met with quivering lip, and a welling of the eyes. "But it IS real!" he insisted. "Magic IS real!" (I hadn't suggested it wasn't...) My heart broke, just a little bit.
I signed the kids up for the Summer Reading Program at the town library. Which would be great, except that this program is directed less at the kids who already love reading and more at the kids who are sort of "meh..." about it. We've gone twice. Both times, once the kids are all there, they play a game. Hot Potato the first week, sack races outside on the town common the second week. Which irritated my boy--he didn't want to leave the library during the reading program! It didn't make any sense to him and he said so. I have to say--I sort of agreed.
I'm not yet clear on how these activities are related to reading, but my guess is, the librarian is trying to make coming to the library appealing to the non-readers. I'm coming to the conclusion that the program isn't ideal for my kids. My boy especially, wants to explore the library--he wants to know where to find everything that he's looking for. His favorite stuff is in the reference section--he wants to read about everything...animals, dinosaurs, geography, science.
So today, I'm taking him to the library again. This time, not during the program. Perhaps it will be more fun for him to look around when there's not all this ancillary stuff going on that has absolutely nothing to do with books, libraries or reading.
Maybe I can help him find a book so he can learn how to build a magic castle...
