OK, I’m about to admit to a very juvenile action on my part. But what can I say? I’m human. LOL

It was a couple of weeks before Christmas and my mom called. She told me what she had gotten for all the boys and the little girls.

Then she said, “I haven’t gotten Brett anything yet. I was thinking of getting her a Nook or a Kindle.”

(This is where the juvenile part comes in).

I admit it. I stood up, stomped my foot (yes, I actually stomped my foot) and outraged, bellowed into the phone, “I’VE BEEN ASKING FOR A NOOK FOR 2 YEARS AND YOU’RE GOING TO GET BRETT ONE!!!???!!!”

Not my best moment. But I guess you don’t always grow up when you’re talking to your mom. LOL

So – guess what I got for Christmas?

Yep! A Nook. (Insert evil grin and gleeful smile – don’t ever tell my children this, but apparently stomping your foot sometimes does work).

Anyway… not the point of this blog post, but necessary background information.

The first Nook book I bought was… A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I had been wanting to read it aloud to the children, but I couldn’t find our copy. So I bought it for my nook.

We’re currently reading about the Ghost of Christmas Future and the book is a huge hit! The middle children (Greyden, Fletcher, and Emery) are probably the ones enjoying it the most, but even the littles are following along without too much extra explanation. The older ones are definitely catching a lot of the nuances. Emery is actually surprising me, he’s been grasping a lot of the deeper thoughts and really understanding some of the hidden meanings. I’m really proud of him.

I must admit that having the book on the Nook makes reading aloud to the children a lot easier. Because I got the Nook color, it’s backlit, so I can read to the children in the car even if it’s dark out. And I’ve been bringing the Nook with me everywhere, so there have been unexpected times when I’ve been able to read to them. I never did that with actual books, because they always stayed in our living room bookcase.

I foresee us doing a LOT more read alouds this way. The children are all very excited about it, because Mom and Dad reading out loud is one of their favorite things.

I haven’t decided what to read aloud next – I’ve actually been thinking of possibly doing Huckleberry Finn. I haven’t read that in over a decade and it’s one of my favorites. Brett just finished it, so I’ll ask her if she’d be ok with me reading it out loud, or if she wants something different.

Personally, I’m currently enjoying reading the Count of MonteCristo – but definitely not doing that one as a read aloud (even though I got an abridged version which is only 500 pages as opposed to the original 900 pages).

I’d love to hear what some of your family’s favorite read alouds have been. So many great books – so little time!