At the end of first grade, Eliot tested at a fourth grade reading level, but he was teetering on a fifth grade level. That means he can read on his own at a fourth grade level while his "instructional" level is fifth grade. I looked for a good fifth grade book to be a challenge for him. We would read it together. I hoped he would come across new words that he had not seen before. We would work together and his reading level would grow. My favorite book in fifth grade was My Side of the Mountain. In fact, I think that along with James and the Giant Peach were pretty much the only books I enjoyed throughout my intermediate school years. My Side of the Mountain is about a boy from New York who runs away from his city apartment to live off the land in the mountains. He captures and trains a falcon to be his companion. I dreamed of Eliot reading the book and loving the falcon friend. I dreamed of us going camping and Eliot carrying the book in his heart while playing in the woods. Well, reading the book didn't go as planned.
Eliot loves animals. He loves learning about new creatures. He names every spider he sees. He is also PASSIONATE about taking care of the environment and animals. When he sees woods being cleared, he scowls. He berates construction workers creating a new road. He gets angry when he sees tree companies removing trees in the neighborhood. He angrily recounts stories of other kids stomping on ants at recess. And garbage? Oh, if he sees litter at a park or the beach, he begins yelling about litter bugs and shouts, "CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! Can you believe someone just LEFT this here?!" I should have thought about that when we read the book....
Reading My Side of the Mountain was going very well at first. Eliot began using his bookmark to help keep his eyes on the line straight. He was not stumbling over words at all. If we came to a simile, I would ask what it meant and he would describe it back. After reading, he would make predictions of what would come next. Before we read, he would tell me what was happening when we left off.
Then we came to the part with Frightful the falcon. In the book, the boy captures a baby falcon from a nest. After Eliot finished the chapter, he looked at me with a stone serious face. "I don't like this book." I asked why. It was the falcon. He said that Sam should not have stolen the falcon. He said that the bird belonged with its family. He was almost in tears. The words of the Wild Kratts (a PBS nature show) ringed in my ears. "Animals belong living free and in the wild." We say this quote a lot as we collect sandfiddlers at the beach and then let them go, or when we collect lightening bugs and then let them go, or hold an inch worm and then let it go, or when the neighbor had a raccoon in her attic and then let it go. For years, the boys have explored and looked for creatures and then always let them go. Of course Eliot would feel upset by Sam taking the falcon. Eliot kept using the word "stolen," but I, for some reason, never thought of it that way.
We continued to read the book anyway. Each time that I said we needed to read, Eliot would sigh and say he didn't like the book. Now, sometimes it takes a little arguing with Eliot to read. It takes arguing to get him to do anything because he often gets stuck or "sucked into" whatever he's doing, whether it is playing video games, drawing a picture, creating with legos, organizing Pokemon cards, or whatever. This was different, though. He kept saying he "really didn't like" this book. When I asked if it was hard, he said no. He said it was easy for him. It always came back to Sam stealing the falcon.
We made it to page 90. We were more than half-way done. If he finished the book and took a Read'N'Quiz test on it at school, it would be worth six points. He never asked to quit the book, but I told him that if he really didn't like it, we could abandon it. He said, "Can we just not read anymore books that has people stealing animals?"
I wanted Eliot to love the book. I also want him to love to read. He did not love the book--and that's fine--but I did not also want him to dislike reading in general because of one book. I didn't want to push him away.
We set My Side of the Mountain aside. Eliot is only seven. It is the first book that I let him abandon. One of my goals for the book was for him to grow in his vocabulary as well, which he did. I need to learn to set aside my expectations as well. I want to share the things I love with my children, but if they don't love them like I do, I need to acknowledge that they are individuals. I want to learn more about them--more about what they love. And this shared experience with Eliot taught me even more about my son. He is truly passionate about the right and fair treatment of animals. He's a conservationist. He's an environmentalist. He's an advocate for animal rights. And he's a vegetarian (almost vegan, but he eats yogurt)!
Eliot has read two books in the Catstronaut series. I got the third book the other day, and the next book in the Bad Guys series just came out too. I had pre-ordered it for him. We still have a few days left of summer break and I'm sure he will rip through those books along with the Dragon Masters book that he is half-way through (and started yesterday). These books are all so easy for him--too easy, even--so I'll let him read some easy books and we'll select his next challenge together. This time, I'll be sure to select a book that doesn't include stealing a falcon.
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