I am excited to have you hear for our 30 minutes of reading challenge for week 2 day 2 where we will be sharing a new book from the Henry and Mudge series and this time we choose Henry and Mudge Best Friends Forever (Ready to Read Level 2) I can’t wait to sit down and read with Charlie. Would you like to join us for our reading challenge.
For my family there is are children’s books that you read once and remember. Then there are the books that seem to follow your family through the years. Henry and Mudge is one of those books in our family which not only Charlie and I read but Suzzane.
If your wondering why I chose this chapter book it is because I already know someone who would understand Henry and Mudge’s friendship very well. Charlie. Because this is how he feels about his Dog’s Bear and Sandy. It’s also how I feel about Pheobie.
Henry is a little boy, and Mudge is his very big dog. Whatever they do is more fun because they’re doing it together. They aren’t simply a boy and a dog who live in the same house. They are best friends.
And when I think about Charlie and his dogs, I can’t help but smile. Because like a lot of dog owners I know Charlie and his dogs really are best friends. That is one of the reasons I knew this would be a fun book for our family to reread— and for so many other children who have that special relationship with a dog.
As I said earlier Henry and Mudge isn’t a new discovery for our family. These are books my daughter Suzanne read when she was little. They are books my nephew David Michael read. And now, even more of my nieces and nephews have grown up reading Henry and Mudge.
That makes these books especially meaningful to me. When I pick up a Henry and Mudge book today, I’m not just looking at a children’s early-reader book. I’m looking at a little piece of our family’s reading history.
It reminds me of sitting down with children and helping them sound out words, listening as they read a sentence by themselves for the first time, and watching that wonderful moment when reading begins to become something they can do on their own.
Those are the moments we sometimes forget about as the children grow older. But the books stay. And years later, you can pick one up again and remember times from the past and who else read the books.
One of the things I always want to encourage families to do during this reading challenge is to visit your local library if your looking for books for your children to read. You don’t have to buy every book your child reads.
Libraries are wonderful places to discover new authors, new characters, and entire series of books without spending a lot of money. So if you want to try Henry and Mudge, check your local library first. Look through the children’s section. Ask the librarian.
And if your child enjoys one Henry and Mudge book, there are plenty of other titles to discover. You may even find that your child starts recognizing the characters and choosing the books independently. And that is exactly what we want. We want children to become comfortable walking into a library and thinking, “I wonder what book I should read today?”
I especially think Henry and Mudge would work well for homeschool families because there is so much you can do with a simple children’s story. You can certainly use the book for reading practice, but you don’t have to stop there.
A story about Henry and his dog can lead to conversations about friendship, responsibility, animals, feelings, vocabulary, sequencing, writing, and even family experiences. You can ask your child what happened first, what happened next, and what happened at the end.
You can talk about the characters. You can have your child draw a picture of Henry and Mudge. You can ask them to write a few sentences about their own pet or their favorite animal.
You can practice spelling words from the story. You can compare Henry and Mudge’s friendship with a friendship in your child’s own life. And if you have a dog at home, you have an immediate connection to real life.
What does your dog like to do with you? What makes your dog special? What responsibilities come with having a pet? Suddenly, one little early-reader book has become the starting point for an entire lesson. That is one of the reasons I love using children’s literature with children. A good book doesn’t have to fit into only one subject.
And here’s another thing I want parents to remember. You don’t have to read Henry and Mudge in order. If you see a title that catches your child’s attention, pick it up. If your child is standing in the library and says, “I want that one,” let them try it. If you find one at a used bookstore or thrift store, bring it home.
If one particular story sounds like something your child would enjoy, start there. Sometimes we make reading more complicated than it needs to be. Children don’t always need us to tell them which book comes first. Sometimes they simply need us to put an interesting book in their hands. And Henry and Mudge is a wonderful series for doing exactly that.
Our goal with the 30 Minutes of Reading Challenge isn’t simply to make children sit still for 30 minutes. It’s to help create a reading habit. Thirty minutes can look different for every family.
One child might read independently. Another might need a parent sitting beside them. A younger child might listen while Mom or Dad reads. A homeschool family might turn the book into a complete lesson. A grandparent might read it with a grandchild.
And sometimes the best thing you can do is simply sit together and enjoy the story. That’s what I want families to remember. Reading doesn’t have to be complicated to be valuable.
If you decide that Henry and Mudge belongs on your child’s bookshelf, after checking the library for books to read visit your local bookstores and Thrift Stores and local stores and if they don’t have the book you can find it on Amazon.
That is one of my favorite things about children’s books. They don’t have to be expensive to become part of a child’s life. And if you discover that your child loves Henry and Mudge, then perhaps you can add a few of the books to your home library over time which is what I did when my children were little and I still have those books.
So today, find Henry and Mudge: Best Friends Forever. Read it for 30 minutes. Read it with your child. Let your beginning reader try the words. Talk about Henry and Mudge. And if you have a dog, take a few minutes afterward to talk about your own four-legged family member.
Ask: Who is your best friend? What do you like to do together? What makes your friendship special? You might be surprised by the answers which I have been at times when I’ve asked Charlie questions.
And if you’re a homeschool family, don’t be afraid to turn this little book into a bigger lesson. Follow your child’s curiosity. That’s one of the beautiful things about homeschooling — a good story can become the doorway to so many different subjects.
For me, though, today’s book is going to be a reminder of something even more personal. Suzanne read these books. David Michael read these books. Other nieces and nephews have read them. And now we’re still passing Henry and Mudge along to another generation of children.
That’s what makes a children’s book special. Sometimes it isn’t just a story. Sometimes it’s a memory waiting to be made again. Thirty minutes. One book. One family memory at a time. Happy reading!
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Grateful, Thankful, Blessed.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates