||| MIDNIGHT MUTTERINGS by JACKIE BATES |||


I haven’t read Oppenheimer yet, so I might change my mind about favorite books, but at this point, The Summer Nick Taught His Cats to Read by Curtis Manley, illustrated by Kate Berube, is my first choice. I’m not sure that this book is more appropriate for the youngest children, who might take it literally, as well as miss the literary references. Still, I can’t help thinking it’s perfectly suited for any age.

You can read it yourself as soon as I return it to the Orcas Library. Or, if that’s too much of a tease, you can get it read to your by the magic of You Tube. There are several You Tube readers and you might prefer a different one. Or even a different book.

One of my favorite aspects of the book is that Nick uses reading lessons any reading specialist would approve, finding just the subject the individual beginning reader chooses and letting the student readers to write their own stories using their mode of choice before writing English is necessary. Then Nick supplements student interest with a healthy dose of phonics with flashcards.

So far I haven’t been successful getting Rose and Molly Cats to try reading. At this point, Molly prefers to chew paper and Rose likes to play with dry paper balls. I have suspected Molly was already reading when she chewed up her spay application, but I haven’t seen any progress by either cat since then. Perhaps I just haven’t found the perfect subjects to interest them sufficiently.


 

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