October seems like quite a while ago. In reality, I might be looking at only twenty-five or so Tuesday lunchtimes when I went to the elementary school near my church, and sat with three second-graders to listen to them read. There were intervening holidays, testing dates, and the time I said I couldn’t come on Tuesday the next week and a clever girl said, “You could come on Friday, instead, like you did that other time.” And I had, indeed, done that, and I ended up doing it again, because she asked.

School is out. Reading Club is over for another school year.

We read a lot of Mo Willem’s Elephant and Piggy books. One kid was a pretty good reader, maybe not compared to others of the same age, but stellar when compared to the other two. One of those improved over the weeks. The other one was still struggling with “and” and “the,” at year’s end.

These are the books that we read together on our last Reading Club day.

I chose this book because the entire vocabulary of the book is “Mine,” and “Yours,” on each page, with an “Ours” added in twice. I was thinking that, with the limited vocabulary of two of my three readers, they should get the hang of it pretty quickly. The story is of a small Panda who comes across the lair of a larger Panda. The smaller Panda asks “Ours?” and the larger Panda picks up the small Panda and deposits him outside, saying: “Yours!” as he walks back inside, indicating that the lair is “Mine.” The small Panda hangs around until the large Panda gives him a kite and says “Yours,” sending him on his way. As the little Panda comes across other woodland creatures, he consistently gets the “Mine” response when he shows interest in other playthings, and a redirection of “Yours,” in regard to the kite. So, we are moving along, page by page, and I am describing the action: others are protective of their belongings. At one point, the kite begins to become enmeshed in leaves and trees and playthings of others. When the other forest folk realize the problem, they join forces and rescue the small Panda, pulling him to safety. The next page shows all those forest folk, along with all their playthings, all together in the lair of the large Panda. The boy reader looks at me and says, “This is a GOOD story!” “Yes, it is a good story,” I say. “Everyone is getting along and sharing and working together.” I hadn’t realized he was beginning to feel anxious.

This is the other book we read. We are fond of the author Mo Willems, writer of the Elephant and Piggy books. I also had a reason for choosing this book, too. The first couple of pages have illustrations of the fox and the duck. The story’s words are the fox inviting the duck home for dinner. My best reader read two two-page spreads. My next best reader read the pages that included the duck’s responses, which were things such as, “Oh, that’s a good idea,” and “Yes, I’d like that.” Then, my struggling reader read the chick’s input, which was “That’s not a good idea.” Those three sections repeat, with similar responses. The chick continues with the not-such-a-good-idea comments, adding, “really,” and “really, really,” and “really, really, really.”

As we read through the sections, whenever we got to the chick’s page, she eagerly “read” what the page said, with sometimes some help. At one point, she said, with great joy and eagerness, “I am SO reading this book!”

So, we know she’s “reading” what she knows the page says. But, she’s enjoying being part of the ensemble. She’s excited about following the plot line of the story. And, maybe next time someone picks up a book, she’ll get close and want to know what the story says. Wanting to read is the beginning of reading.

As Reading Club volunteers, we can give small books as end-of-school gifts. Here’s what I give:

White boards. A couple of years ago, I bought a box of two dozen inexpensive white boards that came with small erasers (that blue square thing on the table). I bring dry erase markers in a variety of colors, and they can choose two to keep. You can probably figure out that I’m not allowed to show the kids’ faces. And, you can probably figure out who’s my best reader (the kid who can spell). The board in the center isn’t erasing well, so I got a new one for her, one that doesn’t get all smeary.

So long sweet friends. Maybe I’ll see you in the fall.