Jo Ann Kairys interviews her son and co-author Daniel Kairys (pronounced care-ease) about the inspiration for their award-winning book
Sunbelievable: Connecting Children with Science and Nature and how it engages young readers.
Interview with Dan.
Daniel shares his experiences growing up as a young reader in Montana, and how a simple story like
Corduroy impacted him and introduced him to "other cultures." Jo Ann shares her memories of Daniel's first dive into reading with
The Hobbit. Daniel adds that
Chaim Potock was also one of his first real forays into reading.
Both of Daniel's children love to hear him tell stories. Like many busy parents, Daniel doesn't have lots of time to "spare," and Jo Ann asks how he fits reading with his kids into his schedule .... and theirs. Terry also asked Jo Ann a few extra questions.
Terry: Thank you for finding Share a Story, Jo Ann and for sharing such a wonderful interview with your son and co-author. I'm curious. Was Daniel as "into" books then as he is now with his kids?
Jo Ann: You're welcome. I'm glad to be here. It is such a great complement to my new passion: the
BRAG project (
Bloggers Read Across the Globe).
Daniel was always into books... he loved picture books and started reading before he learned the alphabet because he was so eager to know the actual story on the page. He started sounding out letters by guessing. I helped him with the sounds and then he immediately grew into chapter books. He read
The Hobbit on his own in the early part of second grade. Couldn't put it down.
From second through fifth grade, his teachers took him almost daily to the library for a new stack of books. He spent most of his days at the school reading in a corner, loving every minute! He sees similar traits in his children and tries his best to encourage and inspire their reading by engaging them in the experience, sharing impressions of characters in books, talking about their feelings and expressions. They have a lot of fun with reading this way!
Terry: You mentioned the Hobbit, andin your interview, Daniel mentions Chaim Potock. Thinking about the kinds of books he read as a child, and now as a dad, has anything changed?
Jo Ann: He loved me to read aloud from the encyclopedia. When a topic interested Daniel, he'd search for more information during our library visits. A favorite topic at around age 7-8 was WWII--strategy, biography, history, geography. He also loved when I read from the newspaper... especially editorials!
At Dartmouth College he was granted special permission to attend advanced poetry writing classes, with no prior writing experience. I think the sounds of language intrigued him. He received many commendations for his poetry. He's fluent in Spanish and Haitian Creole, and loves reading stories in those languages for himself and with his children who are also trilingual. His love for reading and language started very early, and to this day, he remains a prolific reader.
Terry: Speaking of your grandchildren, and now that they are old enough for their personalities to shine through, what three books would you give them?
Jo Ann: I would give my granddaughters
Little Women, the first "big book" I read as a young girl. Even though the oldest is only eight, I'd give her
Romeo and Juliet because of the beautiful language. She's intrigued, just like her Dad, by sounds and nuance and vocabulary. She and her younger sister whose fve, love geography, so I'd give them a world book of maps.
The kids love reading - or being read to - about other countries and cultures. I got them the whole
Brain Quest series which they had a lot of fun with. The youngest is just three and seems to somehow just "know" how to read. He enjoys picture books with animals but is more intrigued by trying to figure out instructions on a box of how to put a toy together. I think he'd like
How Things Work books.
Terry: Oh, what fun! I wish I could get my daughter interested in Little Women! Thank you for sharing your story about writing and also how you select books for your grandkids. This will be very helpful to parents in trying to find that "just right" book for their kids, too.
_____
Jo Ann founded the 2012 First Annual
Bloggers Read Across the Globe (BRAG) Project—Promoting Children’s Reading and Literacy—one enthusiastic blogger at a time.
All month long Jo Ann and her guests will be sharing ideas about writing for children and engaging them as readers.
Sunbelievable tells of a hilarious and whacky Sun seen through the emboldened imagination of two young sisters. Does the Sun ride roller coasters? Eat pizza? The story shows the loving relationship and unbounded curiosity of young children.
NASA’s Chief Technologists adds facts about the real Sun as a jumping off point for questions and discussion. The images combine real photographs with magical, digitally created landscapes.
Book title and covers link to Amazon.com with which the Reading Tub has an affiliate relationship.
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