Max's First Book

We hit a milestone last week: Maxwell read his first official book. All by himself.

I say "official" because he's done plenty of reading prior to this: lots of lessons in his reading book, quite a few Bob books, and bits and pieces of other books.

But this book was more than five pages long, was funny and entertaining (no "Pat sat" here), and was checked out from the library. Yep, definitely official.

Erica at What Do We Do All Day recently posted a list of Easy Reader Books That Are Actually Easy. One of the books she mentioned was See Me Run by Paul Meisel. I wasn't familiar with it but judging from her description ("very simple words and lots of repetition"), I thought it might be one Max would be able to read on his own.

So I checked it out. And a few days later, I said, "Max, how would you like to read a real book?" He was eager and willing.

He read. He sounded out words. He looked at the pictures. He giggled. And when he turned the last page and closed the book, he beamed with pride.

That evening, when Mike got home from work, Max rushed to find the book. And then, with that same adorable smile, asked, "Dad, would you like me to read it to you?"

There's no comparison for this kind of confidence. It is its own reward.

P.S. You can probably guess that I'm pretty happy to see that Paul Meisel wrote another similar book called See Me Dig.

P.P.S. When I was taking these pictures to document Max's first real book, Aaron asked, "What was my first book?" I couldn't remember! It made me so sad that I hadn't thought to write it down.

P.P.P.S. What was your child's first book?