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"Doing" voices
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From: Maia Cheli-Colando <maia>
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 11:25:20 -0700
CCBCers,
Confession: my husband reads Pooh much better than I.
I am the writer in our house.* In my youth, I was in theatre. Nowadays, I read as much "children's lit" as "adult" literature. The Pooh book we read is in fact MY book that I bought as an adult, entirely for my own enjoyment. (Though since two, my daughter has nearly co-opted it.) I have all the right qualifications! And I do read Pooh well.
But Kevin reads it /much/ better than I.
It's not that he has a deeper understanding of story. And I clearly have him well beat on nonfiction books, which he rarely reads to her. But his voices are Absolutely Amazing.
I hold Kevin's father completely responsible for this. Apparently, he had Voices too. He read Pooh to his sons, and the imprint that left is so deep that when Kevin reads Eeyore, he is the only Eeyore I can imagine. If I am fixedly working in the other room and I catch only a whisper of Rabbit, I am lost. There is no point in working any longer; I just sit and listen.
Fortunately, many of the books we have bought are newer titles, and I am not constantly subjected to the mesmerizing effect of generations of Pooh Voice. And too, old or new books, they have to be real Characters for it to work; poetry, history or myth do not bring out the sound.
But I am nervous, because soon my daughter will be old enough for Oz. I have heard rumours of Kevin's father, Jim, reading Oz. I can only imagine what it will do to hear Jack Pumpkinhead or Tik-Tok or the Nome King. I will be lost. I will have to send out an "on vacation" notice, and return when Oz is past. Forty books or more!
Maia
* I am "the writer" only for now... my five year old is gaining ground rapidly, and reads voraciously.
Maia Cheli-Colando maia at littlefolktales.org www.littlefolktales.org/reviews
Received on Thu 12 Aug 2004 01:25:20 PM CDT
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 11:25:20 -0700
CCBCers,
Confession: my husband reads Pooh much better than I.
I am the writer in our house.* In my youth, I was in theatre. Nowadays, I read as much "children's lit" as "adult" literature. The Pooh book we read is in fact MY book that I bought as an adult, entirely for my own enjoyment. (Though since two, my daughter has nearly co-opted it.) I have all the right qualifications! And I do read Pooh well.
But Kevin reads it /much/ better than I.
It's not that he has a deeper understanding of story. And I clearly have him well beat on nonfiction books, which he rarely reads to her. But his voices are Absolutely Amazing.
I hold Kevin's father completely responsible for this. Apparently, he had Voices too. He read Pooh to his sons, and the imprint that left is so deep that when Kevin reads Eeyore, he is the only Eeyore I can imagine. If I am fixedly working in the other room and I catch only a whisper of Rabbit, I am lost. There is no point in working any longer; I just sit and listen.
Fortunately, many of the books we have bought are newer titles, and I am not constantly subjected to the mesmerizing effect of generations of Pooh Voice. And too, old or new books, they have to be real Characters for it to work; poetry, history or myth do not bring out the sound.
But I am nervous, because soon my daughter will be old enough for Oz. I have heard rumours of Kevin's father, Jim, reading Oz. I can only imagine what it will do to hear Jack Pumpkinhead or Tik-Tok or the Nome King. I will be lost. I will have to send out an "on vacation" notice, and return when Oz is past. Forty books or more!
Maia
* I am "the writer" only for now... my five year old is gaining ground rapidly, and reads voraciously.
Maia Cheli-Colando maia at littlefolktales.org www.littlefolktales.org/reviews
Received on Thu 12 Aug 2004 01:25:20 PM CDT
