Lucy Reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"

I love reading books to the kids, and I'm grateful for my training in education, for through that I've discovered so many wonderful children's book authors, some well known outside the world of teachers - like Eric Carle - and others less notorious, but no less wonderful, like Cynthia Rylant.

Despite my consistency reading to Lucy, she actually never quite took to liking books until she was about 18 months old. She didn't care so much for hearing the story told, but she did like to flip through the pages as fast as possible. For a time, I thought she'd never get into books, and my heart broke just a tiny little bit.

But that little heart fracture was all for nothing, for now Lucy LOVES reading books, and I'll often catch her spending her independent play time tucked away in a chair on in the reading corner of the office.

In this video, I heard her reading one of Jack's and her current favorite stories, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle. His illustrations are fantastic, so it's no wonder she chooses this book to look at when she's alone, but in this clip, you'll hear her reciting the story. She does a pretty good job sticking to the original words, and if you're familiar with the story, I think you'll follow along just fine.

And if you're not familiar with the story, head over to the bookstore, read the story for yourself and give it as a gift to a special little person in your life!

This clip begins with Lucy reading near the end of the story, the part when the Hungry Caterpillar eats through a wide-variety of food on one single day...it's cute when she gets tripped up on the word, "salami."

The next page she references a "coocoon" (it can be hard to tell), and my favorite part is when she pauses after she's read the last page, and then declares, "Okay, the end!"