The official license to read

This past week, I declared Jordan a real reader. It came with her first library card. We rushed over to the library after school one evening and filled out all of the paper work. Jordan’s first library card required her signature and an opportunity to read as many books she wants in a three week period. She snagged three small chapter books. I’m not sure if she’ll actually read them. But that doesn’t matter.

Jordan was very excited.

Reading has been an interesting process with Jordan. Her brother was a natural and instant reader. He went out of his way to show off his awesome reading skills. He’d even wake up early in the morning just to consume extra books.

Jordan is not a show off reader. She’s actually quietly improved her skills without showing them to me. Most of the time I will ask her to read something to me and she would try to avoid the experience. She is just not an on demand reader. At least not with me.

Tonight, Jordan decided she was going to read to me. I didn’t ask. She had checked out a book at the school library. She had never read it before so I’m extra impressed. She read almost the entire book without help. There were just a couple of words I helped her sound out. Most pages, she read the sentences well. Not in a beginning reader way. It flowed. And I glowed. As a journalist, I’ve learned that when you do an interview with a person you have to wait a little extra longer to respond with any noise or else it gets caught in the recording. You nod, but you keep the noises to yourself. I felt the same way while listening to Jordan read to me. I wanted to cheer and laugh but I just nodded to help keep her focused. That is really hard to do!

Reading is a new gateway to knowledge. It’s a step towards reading this blog… and contributing to it. I honestly don’t think we’re very far away from Jordan posts. Won’t that be cool? And strange. And cool?

Jordan’s license to read is taking off. It’s so cool to watch her use it and use it well.