Breakthroughs

I am a full hearted believer in literacy.  Which is part of the reason why I own so many books (but there's pride in that as well), why I make weekly trips to the library, why I somehow bought twelve books at a used book sale this weekend, why I want to help G with his Life Skills packet (because it forces him to read) and why I find my downtime at work is spent book in hand instead of remote in hand. 

This week I read both Room (Emma Donoghue) and The Secret Lives of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd) mostly while at work.  While this may make me seem lazy, please remember I have a 7-8 hour grave shift where the guys are asleep as well as a period of 1-2 hours before they all get home from school.  And T spends most of our time together watching movies or playing video games.  But I hope that watching me read will make them want to read.

This week I felt like I had a tender breakthrough.  On Thursday T and I had been talking about Harry Potter.  I asked him if he liked the books and he said that he had never read them.  I don't think he can read.  At all.  But I'm not sure.  But whenever we play any type of game he makes me read for him, and won't even try to sound anything out.  But I asked him if he wanted me to bring the first book with me the next day.  He said yes.

So a couple hours before T went to bed on Friday night I pulled out The Sorcerer's Stone.  I went to his room where he was playing videogames and asked him if he wanted to read it.  He asked why and I reminded him that he wanted me to bring it, but it was fine if he didn't want to.  He stood up and paused his game and came downstairs with me, where we sat at the table and I read it to him, my finger showing him what words I was on.  He was loving it.  He laughed about Mr. Dursley seeing people in cloaks and Dumbledore enjoying lemon drops.  Sometimes I would pause to ask him questions like, "do you know what a tabby cat is?" or "do you know what a cloak is?"  He would inevitably say no and I would explain it to him.  Sometimes I would ask "what was the cat doing sitting on the wall again?" and he would giggle and say "looking." 

At one point G went upstairs for bed but left the TV on.  T kept looking over at it and I thought he was done with the book.  But instead he asked me to wait and he stood up and turned the TV off.  We continued.  We read the first chapter (all 17 pages) and I stopped and asked if he wanted me to read it the next time I came.  He asked me if my throat was hurting, because why else would I want to stop?  I explained that it was just late and he should start preparing for bed.  He asked when I would be coming in next and I told him Monday.  He ran upstairs saying he had something for me, and came back down with a slightly bent tiger bookmark.  He placed it in the book so we wouldn't lose our place on Monday and we put it on a shelf in the living room. 

These boys have so many problems that I can't even comprehend.  And sometimes you see those problems manifest and you can't help but think that you have no idea why you're working with them.  And other times you feel so very, very good about the work that you are doing because they have no one else to read them Harry Potter or to help them learn to read.