Friday, July 2, 2010

The Tale of Keats Rabbit

This morning, spurred on by delicious challah bread french toast, I read Keats the first story he's ever actually paid attention to: The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. While Birch manned the espresso machine and Olive sat outside in the sun staring up at Pierre the Hummingbird, Keats listened attentively, looking back and forth from me to the pages covered with small illustrations of Mr. McGregor and that mischievous rabbit scurrying through the cabbages. He laughed and threw his hands together, plunging them into his mouth, sucking on his favorite (the left hand), and smiling away as Peter Rabbit ducked under the gate and escaped the farmer's sieve and boot. (By the way, I totally forgot that Peter Rabbit's Pa bought the farm thanks to Old Mr. McGregor and became the main ingredient in a pie! Man...) I am under no delusions that Keats actually followed the plot line, etc., but he truly was listening and was happy listening. How exciting!

3 comments:

  1. how funny! alex read the "the tale of tom kitten", and "jemima puddle duck" out loud to skylar and me tonite. we have the animated beatrix potter series on dvd, as well, which she also loves.

    beatrix potter can be shockingly truthful sometimes, in regards to the fates of animals. i was listening to a bbc radio show recently, which said that beatrix potter chloroformed her pet rabbit to use him as a model for peter. i was really shocked.

    alex tried to console me, telling me it was a different time with different attitudes towards animals and nature. he is right, but i've never been able to read her stories and look at her illustrations with the same eyes as i had before.

    still, hearing him read the stories out loud tonite made me laugh. there is no denying her gift for story-telling or her sense of humour. there is no denying your gift either! oh, how i love to hear your stories about keats!

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  2. Isn't it so cute how they find a book that they just love?! Addison is now to the point that she will always prefer to have her books (board books only so that they stay nice) on the floor with her so that she can turn the pages and "read" to herself. Its just adorable to watch...just wait to Keats gets older. Reading at such a young age will really show when they are older and start to be more independent.

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