During the summer, Brian decided that he would start reading to Samantha (and inadvertently, Ellie) from a big book. We were collecting points during the library’s summer reading program. A big book would mean more points, right? Brian went rummaging through my boxes of children’s fiction (yes, still boxed up from the move) and picked out the first book in the Collection of Doctor Dolittle. He started reading The Story of Doctor Dolittle with a chapter on most nights. I thought it was a fantastic pick, all about animals and travel! We keep a globe in the living room, and it came in handy when talking about the doctor’s travels. (It also comes in handy when showing her where our family lives, where they travel, and where current events are taking place. I would highly recommend it.) The chapters were short, but Samantha wouldn’t sit still for most of it. (There’s hardly any pictures!) I think both of them got a little frustrated and stopped about halfway through the book.
Then, a month or so later, Samantha randomly asked me on the way to the babysitter’s house one morning, “Why is Doctor Dolittle stuck in Africa?” I knew it was time to continue.
So, I took it upstairs so we could read it before bed. And it wasn’t long until we finished it.
I really was amazed at how Samantha picked up on the characters (with funny names like Jip the dog, and Dab-Dab the duck). I think she really did enjoy the story. Somehow she knew there were more books, so she immediately asked about the next one. Next up is The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle. It’s considerably bigger, but we’ve started. She doesn’t want to read it every night, but I love to curl up with it when she asks for it. We’ll see how long this lasts.