Speed Readers We Are Not

Alex and I have been reading chapter books at bed-time for the past six months. So far we've read The Swiss Family Robinson, The Wind in the Willows, The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet, and The Dragons of Blueland. Alex feels pretty grown-up reading bedtime stories that last several nights, but I discovered that one of the books has gone on too long when he confronted me after his and Carli's most recent visit to the library. A couple of weeks ago they had checked out Mr. Popper's Penguins. We've been working on it since then, but didn't manage to finish it before the due date. Carli thought it would be fun for Alex to renew the book himself at the library so she had him take it up to the librarian and tell her, “I haven't finished this book yet.”

All seemed to go well. The librarian renewed the book and Alex brought it home and put it in his nightstand ready for bedtime. But, when he and I climbed into bed to read, he shot me an accusative look and said, “Dad, you are taking too long with this book! I had to go to the library and tell them I'm not finished yet and it's because you are making me go to bed too early and you are not reading fast enough!” Very chastened, I read an extra chapter and started a third one, during which Alex feel fast asleep.