But my official stance is that teaching elementary school is a form of birth control. It's not just that I don't want to deal with the runny noses and incessant questions in my off time (although I'm not sure that I do...). It's more that teaching leads to the realization of how responsible you need to be to be a parent. The selflessness required is frightening.
Sometimes, though, things are too cute. My research group had to be semi-quiet today while the other group was working on their Insect Research Books. So instead of the usual raucous puzzle-making, phonics-gaming, or block-building that happens at the end of the day, we decided to read some of our favorite books.
The kids picked Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems. Great choice. So, for a brief 20-minute period today, I read Knuffle Bunny and Knuffle Bunny Too while the kids giggled and enjoyed and laid down on their bellies. And then they went over the top by asking to read Ezra Jack Keats's The Snowy Day. When Peter walked through the snow with his toes pointed in and then toes pointed out, I almost teared up. Almost.
Brave Bunny is unaware of the work, Knuffle Bunny, but he is proud and yes, overjoyed, that the very rich literature of rabbit themes continue to the present. He specifically reminds folks that bunnys have been the center of outstanding books, from Peter Rabbit, through Goodnight Moon and the Velveteen Rabbit, the Easter Rabbit (yes, there are 5 Easter rabbits), and that most famous of all works, Morris's Disappearing Bag.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to know about both books and about the giggling audience. And I look forward to doing some of that toe-pointing in and out -- maybe I will be invited to New York or Chicago or Boston this winter. Since I do not have any children to read to at present, I am particularly glad to have a strikingly lovely, recently framed poster of Le Roi Babar doing same.
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