Wednesday, December 3, 2014

The Streak

 

We have begun a new challenge in our home.  Recently I began The Reading Promise:  My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma.  I discovered this book from a podcast called Read-Aloud Revival, hosted by Sarah Mackenzie.  This is an inspiring podcast which encourages us to "build our family culture around books".  She has interviewed many wonderful guests, one being Alice Ozma.

Alice is the daughter of a children's librarian.  When Alice was a young girl, she and her father decided to see how many days he could read aloud to her without missing.  They set a goal of 100 days.  The rules were simple.  He would read aloud to Alice for at least 10 minutes by midnight.  Occasionally conflicts would arise and they would find themselves up late reading but they met their goal.  Over their celebration meal of pancakes, they decided to set another goal.  One thousand nights. They called their reading challenge The Streak.  The Reading Promise is filled with fun and often poignant anecdotes of the life they shared around the books they read.

The Streak finally came to an end...3,218 days later...when Alice left for college.  In those 3,218 days, Alice and her father cemented a bond that could not be broken.

Our family has decided to have a Streak of our own.  Now we obviously already have a family culture built around books being that we live with nearly 18,000 of them and we rarely miss a day reading aloud.  But sometimes we do allow conflicts to interfere or we decide to head off to bed after a busy or stressful day without reading.

To give us a reachable goal, especially around the holidays, we decided to try to make it through the end of the year.  We began on Thanksgiving and we will see if we can read aloud every single day until December 31.  (Of course, I have every intention of starting again on January 1 with the goal of the full year.)

I have found that, even though we already read aloud most every day, we have become more intentional about our reading.  It has become even more of a priority to enjoy books together as a family.  It would be a beautiful thing if my boys have a bond with us that cannot be broken because of the books we've read.

As this year draws to a close, consider building your family culture around the books you read in the coming year.  Maybe even consider starting a Streak in your family.  At the very least, share a book together today.  


This post was shared on Literary Musings Monday and The Book Nook.

7 comments:

  1. Excellent! I feel a huge "streak" coming to our family. With moving overseas and not having our own home and property to do a lot of outdoor gardening and such, we will absolutely NEED a streak of books to keep our minds and hearts full and occupied. I DO NOT want to become a TV/electronic heavy family! Blessings...Shannon

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    1. Wonderful, Shannon! I believe this culture you create in your new home will give your family cherished memories. Blessings on your new adventure!

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  2. Robin,
    I follow the Read-Aloud Revival as well and have really enjoyed several of the podcasts. I also read this book and thoroughly enjoyed it! I felt immediately that I wanted to do a streak, too, but haven't figured it out yet. I know we surpass the 10 minutes a day in total at the end of the week, but we don't read every single day. December, though, we do lots of Advent and Christmas book reading so I think we can definitely manage a streak through Christmas! :)

    Thanks for the great post!
    Kelly

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    1. I don't think it matters how long a Streak is. Just sharing a book is the most important thing. The anticipation of what lies between the covers of a good book and then watching it unfold is priceless. Enjoy your December Streak!

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  3. I love this idea! Our family time is also centered around books so I appreciate this very much :) As my daughter and I were canning beans today we were listening to Emma and enjoying the wit and making character assessments together. Thank you for sharing this post on the Art of Home-Making Mondays!

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  4. What a lovely idea. This is a great way for families to spend time together as well. Too many people have abandoned the written word. Kudos to you!

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    1. Yes they have, Mary. I appreciate all you do to keep the written word alive.

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