Charlotte's Web: The Right Book at the Right Time - Stories for the Nine Year Change

Bedtime story time has evolved from year to year at my house. My children are now 9 (almost 10) and 14. I believe that bedtime rituals are still just as important as ever - including the bedtime story. During the school year, we used the Oak Meadow Folk Tales book for most bedtime stories. I wondered if my son was still enjoying the nightly ritual or if, at nine years old, he was growing out of it.
Imagine my delight when a mother of one of his friends came by to see me one and day and asked if I could tell her what folk tale book we had been reading. She had heard my son telling her son about it in the car when she was taking them on an outing recently. She reported that my son had gone into great detail about the stories and the candle we lit when we sat down to read. Her son had later asked to begin this ritual. Apparently, nine year old boys still love bedtime stories!
I was amazed that he had shared this with a friend. Not only did he love the ritual, he felt confident about sharing it. I have to admit that my storyteller heart rejoiced.
As the school year wound to a close, I realized that there were several books that I had hoped to read aloud that we just had not been able to squeeze in. With the farming theme present in the third grade year, I decided we just couldn't leave off without reading Charlotte's Web. I knew he had heard it read aloud when he was younger and his sister was listening to it, but I love that book so much, I decided to try it and see what happened.
Thus began a sweet and tender time for a mother and son in the midst of the nine year change. Each chapter is so real and so in tune to this time in a child's life. I could feel the authenticity of it as we read aloud each night before bed. As Wilbur matures and understands the facts about life, as Fern changes and leaves her barnyard friends behind - thus is the life of the nine year old. There are so many parallels in this story to the struggles of being nine. Children feel keenly this "dying" of early childhood and rebirth into the older child. Something about turning "double digits" is a rite of passage. I know that he had heard the basic story before and even remembered bits and pieces from hearing it read aloud years earlier. But, there is a magic in hearing the right story at the right time, an affirming of your inner life that you do not get from other tales. I felt privileged to watch it unfold. I urge parents not to push children to grow up too soon. Do not rush to read a book just because they "can" read the book and do not give up on bedtime stories. There is a magic in a story candle lit in a darkening room. A spell that weaves around the child when the story is a perfect match for the age and stage. This is the "sweet spot" of children's literature - bibliotherapy at its best.

The Littlest Storyteller

My son has faced a lot of struggle in his very young life. He started having health issues at the introduction of solid foods and after months of hospitals, doctors and the like, he was diagnosed with celiac disease and food allergies. Later he was also diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. He is touch sensitive to wheat and breaks out in hives from touching things like playdough. He is anaphylactic to nuts (peanuts). He had some dev. delay from his months of living with intestinal issues that prohibited nutrition to the brain. The dev. delay was only in speech. He has been slow to communicate and make the sounds for his words. He had speech therapy in our home for his two year old year. This past school year, he went to speech at the local elementary school. While he still struggles with some sounds and being understood by those who aren't always around him, he has improved greatly. There has never been any doubt that his imagination was in fine working order. He is in turns, Peter Pan, a pirate, a dog, a super hero, and any other character that takes his fancy. He plays elaborate scenarios with his sister, who, has always seemed to know exactly what he was saying, even when the rest of us didn't. Their imagination is fueled by the stacks of books we read weekly. My son will sit for long periods of time listening to stories. He took an interest in the creation of stories after his sister wrote a short story that was published in a local yearly children's publication, "Kids In Print". On the way home from that event he told us a story, "Once upon a time there was a boy named Whit. He had a Mommy and a Dad". That was it, his first attempt to create a story. We were delighted that he had made the connection. This past Friday was his last speech session of this school year. He amazed his speech teacher and his watching Father when he came out with this story:

"Once upon a time there was a boy named Whit and he had a Mommy and a Dad. There was a bear coming out of a deep hole. He saw us. We climbed a tree so he wouldn't get us. He was big. He was this tall, as tall as your arm. He was big. There was a little dragon. We ran to the car. The dragon followed us so he could drive. He got in the car and Whit held him. The bear was coming and he was jumping on the road and that's how he was getting us. Doodeet came in a blue car. He was magic. He came to rescue us. We never that big bear in that scary woods again. The bear climbed a tree so he could hide from Doodeet. Doodeet climbed the tree to get him. The End. "

I think we can safely put our concerns about his speech to rest!

We haven't made a call yet as to whether we will use speech services again next year. For his sake, we want to make sure he can be understood. He has so much to share with the world, even his own stories!