Family Reading Fun

by Lauri Griffin | More from this Blogger

27 Jul 2007 08:16 PM

For the last week, my family has been occupied reading "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". Seven hundred and fifty nine pages is a lot of reading. We've all been at different points throughout the week, so we've had to be really careful about not giving things away as we talked.

We have never all read the same book at the same time before. When the earlier Potter books came out, my nine year old twins were too young to be very interested. I remember seeing people on planes and at the doctor's office reading the book. We would trade our impressions and talk about what page we were on. That was cool, but this week was even cooler.

Because this week, we all read the same book. And I have to say, what a fun experience! I know my boys will remember going to a midnight party and bringing the book home. I know they will remember how we timed each other and negotiated turns with the book, how we used different colors of sticky notes as bookmarks. (Sticky notes make great bookmarks because they are less likely to fall out of the book accidentally.)

I wish more books were released to this enthusiasm. I would love to repeat the experience. I am trying to think of other books that everyone would buy into at the same time. So far I haven't thought of anything, but I'm still searching because I loved my family sharing their thoughts and impressions.

Our library does "All Reads" where they buy a great number of the same book and encourage the community to all read the book at the same time. Past books have included Alice and Wonderland, Frankenstein, Treasure Island, and The Arabian Nights. The community puts on plays, holds discussions, and offers prizes to the readers. While I've read the books in the past, I think next time I will encourage my entire family to participate.

I'd never considered how fun reading as a group could be.

Also see: Parallel Reading With Teens

Storytelling - The Lost Art

Harry Potter Mania

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Or discuss The Deathly Hallows in the forums.

Learn more about Lauri Griffin

Lauri lives in Colorado with her husband and three sons. Amidst all the laundry and packing of lunches, she tries to keep parenting fun.

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Teresa McEntire (2984) 12 Sep 2007 02:57 PM

You could try reading different books on the same topic. Find some books on WWII for different age groups, like Anne Frank, Number the Stars, The Hiding Place, etc. You wouldn't have the exact same experience but you could talk about WWII and the different experiences that the characters had. How they are similar and different.

Lauri Griffin (2703) 12 Sep 2007 08:32 PM

That's a good idea, Teresa. Thanks!