A Peanut Butter Sandwich

Someday I will write about my mild obsession (I'd call it mild, my hubby wouldn't) with books. My love of books began very early... like at birth! And so I have kept my books and love of reading to pass on to my children.

Reading to my boys is always a fantastic time for me. I use different voices and faces - different accents and shouts and whispers - I am a one woman three ring circus of reading enjoyment! (Probably a holdover from high school drama and speech competitions.) We read everything... and with April having been National Poetry Month, we added reading several poems each night before our books. (Yes, this is a super late blog to be writing about April's poetry month in the middle of May-- sorry 'bout that.)


So one night, I was reading to Em and flipping through one of my favorite poetry books as a kid-- and I come to the "Peanut-Butter Sandwich" poem by Shel Silverstein. Immediately I flash back to 3rd grade with Miss Palai and what I remember to be my very first speaking engagement! I chose to do this very poem because my dad is obsessed with peanut butter sandwiches. If you click on the picture of the book above, you can actually see my writing (I know, bad girl for writing in books, but hey I was 9) of how I handled the poem... speaking fast here, making faces there. And I guess my mom timed me that I read the poem in 1 minute and 55 seconds.


Back to the present... Em is listening to me, with giant wide eyes and slightly rapid breathing as I tell about the "silly young king" and his peanut-butter sandwich dilemma. I am loving it! He's hooked in and I am so happy he's loving it too! The poem ended with him finishing the last line and a big guffaw laugh and "AGAIN Momma, read it AGAIN!!!" It really is a great poem.


If you like reading to your children and would like to be more animated, Mem Fox has a wonderful book called Reading Magic and her site gives some commandments to follow to help your child learn to love and appreciate reading also. Mem Fox is the author of that one book that every parent I know seems to have and love and memorize in their child's' baby and toddler years... "It's time for bed little mouse little mouse, darkness in falling all over the house..."


If you have Where the Sidewalk Ends, try reading the peanut-butter poem and also "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out" aloud. It is a tongue twisting fun!