“Ilana Kurshan explores the closeness forged when family life unfolds against a backdrop of reading together. Kurshan, a mother of five living in Jerusalem, at first struggles to balance her passion for literature with her responsibilities as a parent. Gradually she learns how to relate to reading not as a solitary pursuit and an escape from the messiness of life, but rather as a way of teaching independence and forging connection. Introducing her children to sacred and secular literature-including the beloved classics of her childhood-helps her become both a better mother and a better reader.”
Children of the Book is a blend of the love of reading and the importance of getting children interested in reading at an early age. Ilana Kushan describes her approach to getting her children to look at books while she’s reading to them.
I started reading to Patrick and Katie in Children’s Hospital the day after they were born. Our house always had dozens of books for them to look at…and in later years, read. And, of course, I set a Good Example by reading a lot in their presence and helping with their Homework. Patrick could read when he was 3 years old. Katie could read when she was 4 years old. Both of my kids went Kindergarten knowing how to read, knowing their colors, knowing their address, and being able to count to 100. Big advantage!
In this time of cell phone addiction, reading is suffering. I can’t imagine trying to read a book on a cell phone. I occasionally read an ebook on my iPad, but I prefer a Real Book. How about you? Do you remember when you first learned to read? What were your reading preferences? GRADE: B
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction: Paradise lost. Genesis: Sunset at the dawn of time. Trailing clouds of glory
By the light of the moon
Far from the tree
Going, going, gone
Serious silliness
Babel builders and beyond
Tell me a Yitzvi
Running away
The set table
Wild about books
Exodus: The journey to reedom. Signs and wonders
The top ten commandments
Left to their own devices
The unicorn and the scroll
A series of their own
Bare ruined choirs
Leviticus: The shrine of the book. Pilgrimage to the library
The bad mother
The Menorah tattoo
The tent of meeting
Happily ever after
Sacrificing the Little Prince’s sheep
The miniature shrine
Numbers: Beezus and Corona. Panic, plunder, pandemic
Revealing the end
Quimby crock-pot and the Egyptian meat pots
The unreliable narrator
Sit here for the present
Deuteronomy: Moses’s memoir. An incandescent mind
The bus driver who wanted to be God
The kind family
The sense of an ending
Weaning my children all over again
Conclusion: The promised land
Acknowledgments
Reading recommendations
Notes
