Dolly Reads: The Love for Mr Men

When M was a preschooler, E introduced the first few Mr Men books. I have never been a fan of these stories, but he read them as a child and decided that his son might like them.

M did not really fancy them either. So Mr Happy and the few others were left on the bookshelf collecting dust.

When Chip was about 4 years old, E introduced them again. The boy loved them enough for the daddy to decide to invest in the whole series. He came home with the box one day and to be honest, I was not very pleased. Though I kept mum, but I seriously thought there ought to be better stories to invest that $ on. Hmmph!

A few weeks after he bought the box, and tried reading to Chip almost daily, the boy lost interest. I don't even think he went through every book in the box.

Again, the box went into storage, collecting dust.

A couple of months ago, the daddy decided to read every book in the box to the Dolly at bedtime. They did that for several weeks and eventually, they even managed to read every book in the box a couple of times!

To my biggest surprise, the girl LOVES them. As the dad rushed through the books, I could hear her laugh out loud, giggling silly with the dad or making jokes about the silly antics of the many Mr Men.

So the humour is what really caught her attention. She simply loves the silliness of most stories.

While the dad was reading mostly Mr Men at bedtime, I continued with my choice of books in our daytime reading. Our reading styles are very different though, as we have different purposes in mind. He mostly reads to entertain, whereas I also focus on honing reading skills, in addition to complementing her other lapbooking activties that she is doing with me.

By the time E decided to take a break from Mr Men and the Little Miss series (which he bought recently, again despite my light protest), the Dolly started reading the books in the day to satisfy her own appetite for the stories. Throughout the day, she would stop drawing or playing from time to time, to read a few on her own.

It certainly helps that she is already reading fluently and fast enough, so it is enjoyable for her to read as many as five Mr Men books on her own, in one sitting. I must admit I find it such a delight to watch her so engrossed with all these silly stories and giggling to herself.

Now that someone in the house is appreciating these books, I can finally say that the investment on the boxes is money well-spent. And thankfully, she is also showering a lot of love and attention on the other good books we have lying around in the house. So I can be tolerant of her excessive love for Mr Men.