To the Shire Yet Again
March 1, 2001
7:21 a.m.
Made it through an interesting scene this morning, which is good.   Brigid and I are now beyond The Hobbit, and into The Fellowship of the Ring. I read aloud to her when we're together and available and all that. She reads a little ahead when I'm not available. It's an interesting experience, reading to a twelve-year-old. it's different from reading to an eight-year-old, or a ten-year-old, or .... well, you get the idea. Last night we read on the couch--me wedged into a corner, Brigid lying in the crook of my arm with my arm around her shoulder. Sometimes we read with her in bed and me just sitting there, which is all good and well, but the couch is better because then she's basically reading along, and I can sense how she's absorbing it all. She understands things so quickly, now. When she was eight she read in the moment, taking delight in the passages, and the banter of dialog and basically just letting the story happen. But now she understands so much more. We're at the place where Gandalf is revealing history to Frodo, and where he ends the conversation by brining Sam Gamgee into the fray for good. Halfway through the ring's history, Brigid stopped. "This is why he wrote the Hobbit," she said. "What do you mean?" "The Hobbit explains a lot of this, and then this part tells us a lot more about when he (Gandalf) went away in The Hobbit." "That makes sense," I replied. So she's tying things together, reaching outside the story to bring thoughts to the table. When we get to tense points, I can feel her body tense up. When humor comes, I can feel her relax. She hems and she haws at points in the story and information is revealed, and I find myself reading and reacting and studying at three different levels. First, of course, is at the parent level. It's a marvelous gift to see how your child reacts to things. Second is as a reader. It's been a very long time since I read these books, and I smile with pleasant memories as we go through various parts of the story. But the third level I follow along at is as a writer. It's fascinating to see another person react to a story this way. It makes me look at passages differently--simple, transitory passages meant to move the story from point A to point B become mini-adventures. Quite interesting. And a whole lot of fun, to boot.  Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins |
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"I think Sam was always outside the window." Brigid, with a knowing smile |
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