Should I Count the Pages of Picture Books I Read with My Kids?

My kids will definitely count those pages toward their totals, but I'm starting to think that maybe I'll only count pages for myself if there are lots of words on the page (i.e., chapter books).

I'm realizing that the motivational factor may be lost on me if I don't set this rule. Last night, I logged 132 pages while I listened to Madi read for about 10 minutes while I fixed dinner. It kind of felt too easy, and I want this whole program to push myself.

Any thoughts?

Have You Had a Green Eggs and Ham Experience?

Along with the quirky characters and rhymes, Dr. Seuss books have some profound messages.  One message is found in Green Eggs and Ham.  Was it just a coincidence that this book was published the same year that President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act (1960)?  Some people think it was Dr. Seuss’s way of saying, “Don’t judge a book, or an egg—OR A MAN—by its color.” 

I think that seeing Green Eggs and Ham as a diatribe on race relations goes too far.  To me, this delightful children’s book is about navigating life with an open mind and not judging something without first experiencing it.  It is also about persevering even in the face of stubborn resistance. 

Last night I received a delightful story prepared by Daniel, Andrea, Olivia, Madison, Atticus, Jared, and Amanda.  Brother Lurch is trying to get his friend to try the Mormon Church, and despite the constant protests, the tenacious Brother Lurch keeps trying.  Finally after “trying” the Mormon Church, the friend asks to be baptized.  What a fun parody!

Have you ever had a Green Eggs and Ham experience?  When I was in about 9^th grade, I kept hearing about a girl who went to Olympus Jr. High (I went to Evergreen) who was just like me.  People who knew us both kept telling me how similar we were.  Lauri and I both had long blonde hair; we both competed in gymnastics; we both played the violin.  Who knows who even started it, but both of us persisted in affirming our hate for the other throughout the year even though we had never met.  As you might guess, we did meet the first day of sophomore year and became instant friends.  She remained one of my best friends throughout our years at Olympus High.  Lauri is the only high-school friend with whom I have exchanged Christmas cards every year for the past four decades.

I would love to hear about your Green Eggs and Ham experiences.  Maybe Platte’s could be something about his mother-in-law’s pasta salad.  

Dr. Seuss Week

First off – KUDOS TO KRISTINA for our amazing logo.  We all love it!  The T-shirts are ordered and we are ready to …

…Kick off our Summer of 100,000 Pages.  It will begin on Monday bright and early.  Any books that you finish can be counted.  I am currently reading seven different books but won’t finish them until next Monday.  The more I think about this, it may be pretty cheap to count those 1,308 pages.  I am going to defer to the Justice and Ethics Committee, which I am hereby appointing as Whittie Leigh and Ben to determine if I should count them.  (The same determination will go for the rest of you who are reading books but not finishing them until then.)

I do want to clarify the completely amazing charts Daniel created and which you can find at the bottom of the blog.  THIS IS NOT A COMPETITION.  Should I be bolder about that?  THIS IS NOT A COMPETITION!!!  We are all working toward a common goal—reading 100,000 pages.  So, if the line following your name is soaring out in front, you should feel proud of yourself: you are contributing to the common good.  Go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back* and say, “Good job to me!”  If, on the other hand, your name has no line or a very small line moving to the right, then you should feel proud of yourself because you are allowing and encouraging others to better themselves by reading.  Give yourself a pat on the back* and say, “Good job to me!”

*When patting yourself on the back, I recommend patting over the opposite shoulder, i.e., using your right hand to pat your back over your left shoulder.  If you try to pay yourself over the same shoulder, you might dislocate something, which would impair your ability to hold a book. 

We will be kicking off Dr. Seuss Week with the book SEUSSY and some little creatures to help you read.  Whittie Leigh and Ben’s should arrive in the mail on Saturday, and the rest of you will have your books hand delivered.  I currently have 18 Dr. Seuss books from the library sitting on my hearth begging to be read.  Feel free to drop by the White House.

One interesting thing about Dr. Seuss is that in 1959 he wrote the book Happy Birthday to You!  How appropriate.  Do you know who was born that year?

The minute you finish your first book, shoot off a text or an email to Adam because he has declared that for your first book you receive a 100 GRAND bar.  We will get those candy bars out posthaste. 

Get your reading engines ready.  Jared and Amanda will be visiting the Irvine Rickses this weekend, and the Nielson family is welcoming little Violet.  It’s going to be a great Memorial Day Weekend.  Just remember to make time each day for books.

Looking ahead to the next week:  Library Week.  As you plan the week of May 31 – June 6, hopefully you will pencil in a trip to your local library.    

Summer of 100,000 Pages

In the summer of 2007, the Lyndon Ricks Family undertook a reading program:

Summer of 100 Books

Our goal was to log 100 books during the months of June, July, and August. 

We did well.  Not only did we meet our goal of 100 books, we far exceeded it.  We read 187 books (136 titles) and a total of 57,966 pages.  We did this with basically seven readers—Lyndon, Elizabeth, Andrea, Platte, Heather, Whitney, and Amanda.  There were nine of us in the family at that time, but Daniel was in law school and Adam was on a mission.

The most popular book of that summer was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  Six of us read it.  The longest book was Kristin Lavransdatter, which I am still trying to get my daughters to read.  We read fiction and nonfiction; secular books and church books—the Book of Mormon in two languages; mysteries, histories, classics, true crime, tragedies, comedies, children’s books, and even a romance or two because Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility are romances as well as classics.  Being that it was the summer of 2007, the Twilight books even made our list. 

Now eight years later we are embarking on an even more ambitious summer reading program: 

Summer of 100,000 Pages

Since 2007 we have more than doubled the size of our family.  We have added Kristina and Ben as well as grandchildren Belle, Olivia, Platte, Madison, Asher, Hazel, Atticus, and Alta Rose.  We look forward to adding Violet this week.  Additionally, Jared Smith will be reading with us!  Hooray for lots of readers. 

The primary goal of Summer of 100,000 Pages is to encourage our four oldest grandchildren to read.  We expect that Belle and Olivia (both 6 years old) and Platte and Madi (both 4 years old) will do the lion’s share of the reading.  But we expect that we will all have a wonderful time turning pages and entering the wonderful world of books