freckles – a new read aloud

Mar 6, 2013

I have been wanting to read Freckles as a family for many years, so on Sunday night when I asked for suggestions from everyone on what our next read-aloud should be and Kez shouted out Freckles, I jumped at the chance.

It is so lovely. We are only a few chapters into it, but I am already in love. Gene Stratton-Porter is a wonderful author who paints vivid pictures of human nature, good vs. evil, the natural world – especially the forests and swamps of Indiana, courage to do hard things, and family life. I love her books because they make me think and consider my own choices ever more carefully.

Our last read-aloud, a forgotten classic by Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Land of The Blue Flower, should be on everyone’s shelf. I can’t wait to buy a used copy of the beautifully illustrated version by Judith A. Griffith to put in my family’s library. I want to read it to my children again and again. The king is so wise and his lesson of teaching people to tend a plant with its resultant action of healing their angry hearts is one I need to plant deep in my soul.

I never have a plan in place for read-alouds. I hardly ever know what the next book on our list is going to be. I prefer to be open to inspiration and to jump on opportunities as they arise. God keeps leading me to the next book our family needs to read together and I keep learning to trust His quiet whisperings.

Our read-alouds have really suffered over the past year, not in terms of quality, but in terms of getting through a lot of books. We used to read about a book a month, or sometimes two months if it was overly long. Since my hip injury and even more now with ballet three nights a week, we are reading in slllllloooowww motion. Since last February we have only read The Last Battle, Summer of the Monkeys, The Hobbit, Mama’s Bank Account, and The Land of The Blue Flower. But we are still doing it – still enjoying our reading time and still learning from these great stories – and that is what is really important.

What is your current read-aloud? Or are you still trying to figure out how to make it work for your family?