"To learn to read is to light a fire" Victor Hugo

I had never actually sobbed while reading a book until the night before last.
My brothers and I love to read children's books aloud together. Admittedly, it has been selfish on my part from the first. I love good juvenile literature. Reading to my brothers is an acceptable way to indulge this. Let me add that I do have two other, more noble and altruistic, reasons for reading aloud to the boys. 1) I want them to develop a love for reading, and not just any books, but the best literature, the truly great books. 2) I want to teach them to analyze everything they read. This, of course, applies to every other area of life; we constantly have to be pushing everything we experience through the grid of Scripture, testing it to see if it is true. I do not want my precious brothers to passively accept all that they see, hear, experience. So, periodically, we'll pause and discuss the positive and negative attributes the various characters are displaying.

Anyhow, back to the other night. It was Edith Nesbit's book, The Railway Children that did it to me. My brothers, Joseph (9), James (8), Micah (5) and Elijah (3) were seated cozily around me and we were devouring the last chapter. ( WARNING: If you have not read this book, I'm going to give away the end a little.) Coming to the scene of reconciliation between the daughter and her father, I lost it. I tried to hold it back, but couldn't. It was the most precious scene. I thought of my own father and how blessed I am by him. I thought of the father in Alabama, who just this past Wednesday night, gave his life for his family's in shielding them with his own body from the terror of a tornado (for the story, see here). I thought of the joy that comes when a daughter ignores the world's lies about domineering patriarchy and the freedom of feminism and when she submits to and serves and loves her daddy with her whole heart, trusting in him completely. And I wept. And Elijah climbed into my lap and wiped my tears away with his hand. Need I say more than God has blessed me tremendously? My heart was full. 

The next book on our ever-increasing book list will not be as emotional. Miss Nesbit is also the author, in a way, of this work. She has taken certain Shakespeare's plays and rewritten them for children. I have always strongly desired to love (and be able to quote) Shakespeare, but somehow, I could not understand his plays. Perhaps this is because his plays are scripts for, well, plays and not meant to be read but seen. These story-forms of his plays I'm sure will help me and I can't wait to see what the boys think of them too. I know they will appreciate the fact that they won't make me cry. :)

Other books on the list include: Twice Freed by Patricia St John; The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff(an old favorite); The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken(another old favorite); a GA Henty book; and one of the Tom Swift, Young Inventor books by Victor Appleton plus many more. What are some of your 'old favorites'?