Three Classes, Three Reactions: Our First Book Reading

We had our first book reading today at York International River Valley, my son's preschool. It turned into a crash course in reading to three very different audiences in a single morning.

We visited the Playgroup, Nursery, and Kindergarten class in order. The Playgroup children were polite and a little wary of the stranger (me 😢) holding the book. I couldn't blame them — they trust their teachers, not some random dad with a picture book!

By Nursery, the energy picked up. Many kids recognised places in the book and were very eager to share! Each letter was greeted with excited cries from kids who had already been there, thought it was something familiar, or now wanted to go there. Job done!

Kindergarten was a different world entirely. My son's classmates already knew me well, so there was no shyness and no holding back. I was frankly overwhelmed by their pure enthusiasm, many questions, and disturbing tendency to "rush the stage" (yes, it's exactly what you're thinking!).

The biggest lesson of the day had nothing to do with the kids' reactions, though. It was the realisation that reading all 26 letters in one sitting is simply too long for this age group. We decided to read a selection of eight or nine letters, tops. Enough to keep the energy up without losing anyone halfway through the alphabet.

Overall, though, it was a genuinely fun morning, and a wonderful experience in my ongoing journey as an author. Most importantly, the kids' interest told us that Max & Pax would work exactly the way we hoped... in the right dose!