February 12, 2002 - Tuesday
Harry's new issue of Highlights Magazine has a charming two-page story about a Navajo girl, who is, for the first time, old enough to assist her grandfather and older brothers with the annual herding of grandfather's sheep from a meadow down into a canyon. It's a softly written tale with lots of pleasant word imagines and a nice plot about how the girl realizes one of the lambs is missing, goes off and finds it, and brings it back safely. It seems to me that there enough tension to keep Harry's interest and a happy, if not empowering, resolution, along with the nice nature-filled imagery that he probably can understand a little and probably more and more with each reading. Whatever is in it, since the magazine arrived yesterday, Harry's had me read it more than a dozen times, generally in clusters of four times in a sitting (or lying in "the hole," as is usually the case and shown here).

I must say I enjoy the story, although I'll concede that it's beginning to wear a little thin after so many times through. But, it has good sentences and phrases and I like to try and read it well. I like to flatter myself thinking that it's my sensitive reading that has grabbed Harry attention. But, what I really wonder is whether Harry hears a difference in my voice or has been struck by the occasional brief pause I've made while reading through the phrases and sentences about the girl's grandfather and the little things grandfather does that she likes and the things she's learned from him. Is Harry hearing something curious that he can't put his finger on and is that why he keeps telling me to "read it again?"


Comments, Opinions?