We finished Sarah, Plain and Tall a few days ago and now we have started reading Mr. Popper's Penguins.

Note: It's amazing how quickly we are going through books now that we are only reading ones we really enjoy.

Before, I just had to finish books that I had started because other people had said those books were great and we must be wrong about our impressions of the book, etc. etc.

But continuing to read books we didn't really like meant that I kept avoiding reading aloud to Norah because I wasn't really enjoying the book at all and therefore, Norah didn't really enjoy it, either. Reading aloud became a chore.

When I read the quote below out of Jim Trelease's The Read Aloud Handbook, I decided he was right and I had to stop insisting on finishing books we really weren't enjoying and I had commit to be okay with reading only those we like.

Doing so has made all the difference in our read-aloud experience. It's a delight again.

Jim Trelease says:

"Don't read stories that you don't enjoy yourself. Your dislike will show in the reading and that defeats your purpose. Don't continue reading a book once it is obvious that it was a poor choice. Admit the mistake and choose another."