Reading with the Kids: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

One of our summer's biggest delights are the stories, tales, and written words read by both myself and my kids.  They aren't li'l ones anymore, so we all read independently, but even each of us reading our own separate worded worlds while all of us are in the same room feels like we're sharing our books together.

More than once there has been one kid reading from a printed book on one end of the sofa, while I'm on the other, reading an ebook on my phone, while the other kidlet sits on the floor right next to us and reads an ebook, checked out from the library on the laptop.

And occasionally, two or three of us might share a special story.  Recently, I started reading Anne of Green Gables aloud to my sweet girl and with each word spoken, I wander down memory lane, revisiting when those words were my first time reading them as a girl myself.  She loves sharing the story so much that her prized yard sale find this summer is her very own copy of the old book that she picked up for fifty cents.  Now, I read aloud as she follows along, gingerly turning the pages of her newest treasure.

And even better, a book that again allows me to wander through my memories and that I'm then able to pass on to another generation.  The imaginative tale of  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl has been just that tale.  My boy was first introduced to Dahl reading Matilda with his class a few years ago and laughed himself sick.  And my girl has been experiencing his worlds with James and the Giant Peach before Charlie arrived on our doorstep.  

Dozens of books, thousands of pages, and millions of words have yanked the three of us into dozens of different writers' imagined worlds.  And we are smiling because of it.

What are you reading this summer?  If you have kids, what books, pages or screens, are they sticking their noses in?

This post was inspired by the classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. To celebrate, Penguin Young Readers Group, in partnership with Dylan’s Candy Bar, the world-famous candy emporium, and First Book, a nonprofit social enterprise that provides books for children from low-income families, is launching a year-long international celebration.

Head over to From Left to Write to learn how you and your child can have a chance to win the Golden Ticket Sweepstakes where the grand prize is a magical trip to New York City plus much more! For every entry submitted, Penguin Young Readers Group will make a donation to First Book. Then, join From Left to Write on July 24 as we discuss Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. As a book club member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes.

Wait! Am I reading an ebook or a bound book?!

Crack open a new book; feel the spine crunch as its insides fan apart, its outside backbends for the first time.  Inhale fresh, crisp unread pages.  Hold a treasure that promises to whisk you to another space.  Heaven.

From my first book read at age three to more than half of my thirties that was how I experienced a book - save the "new" part as while my home overflows with bound books, I've also checked out thousands of cherished-by-many books from libraries across the country.

Enter the last year, a Kindle app for my laptop, and my new friend, Droid - the smartphone that never seems to leave my side now - with its own Kindle app to read by.  And the ebooks that I never thought I'd be interested in have wriggled their way not only into my library, but the very manner in which I read.

I realized this last bit late last night while reading my newest bound book, Bloodline, and I actually pressed my finger on a word on the page.  I mean really pressed it!  Why?  I didn't know what the word meant and was looking for the instant dictionary lookup that's ever so convienent when reading an ebook.  Yes, it was quite late, but it struck me how automatic of a response it was to an unknown word.

And in an instant I was torn between my old, ever constant love of traditional bound, paper pages in hand books and the new fancy schmancy, take with you wherever you go, easy to look up a word and continue reading ebooks.  Not only was I torn, but I felt like I was cheating....on both of them!

Ink stained fingers from newsprinted papers were cast aside as clandestine affairs with news aggregates across the interwebs ensued.  Multi-volume back breaking encyclopedias were left to dusty corners of a library as I embraced Google, who I would gladly smooch every single day.  Dictionaries disappeared off shelves and shattering, though predictable, news broke that the Oxford English dictionary would no longer be printed.

Admittedly, I don't think I've cracked open a paper bound dictionary in about fifteen years.  But, in the late hour my eyes were travelling along James Rollins' words on the pages of my printed edition of his latest Sigma thriller, I suddenly became all too aware of just how differently I access information today.

What about you?  Are you waving your arms in welcome, rolling out the red carpet for the next newest way to access information?  Or do you wave your arms wildly, sending the newest tech down the road?

I hope my world holds both.  I hope I'm inviting it in with arms wide and yet choosing to cherrish the trinkets of yesterday that I wish to never loose interest in; like my long standing bound book love affair.  May there always be rooms full of beloved bound books waiting to be read, thumbed through, and passed on to the next generation to get lost in.


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Affiliate links are used, though this post is not sponsored or solicited.  It's an honest response in reaction to finding myself trying to push tech onto my newly purchased old school paper bound book last night.