ILL TEACH YOU TO FLY - WORL BOOK DAY 2016

My children love books. This fact makes me happy but it doesn't surprise me in the slightest.
I love books and I have for as long as I can remember. In fact books, but more importantly the characters I've met and the lessons they've taught me have shaped a large part of who I am and almost certainly given me solace in times of need. I'm even taking an extra credit course about how literature can affect mental health.
I've been trying to share my love of reading with the children pretty much since they were in utero, I spent a large part of my pregnancies reading Harry Potter aloud hoping they were listening and soaking in Jo Rowling's utter brilliance and when I grew tired of my own voice I switched to Stephen Fry's.
And now we read a lot at home and we don't just read together, the children often pull out books and flick through them imparting snippets of their contents to me which is pretty entertaining if they've chosen the right book. The rediscovery of audiobooks and the mountain of cd's and cassettes my mum had packed away from my sisters and I has been a game changer for us as well. It's given Dylan the space and time he needs to relax and wind down in bed before he's ready to sleep. And in sure there's a link between the amount of time he spends listening to a story and the wild intensity of his dreams. As if listening to stories gives his imagination time to uncoil and pluck ideas from the air before it's ready to get to work when he falls asleep.

World Book Day is fun for two reasons.
1. The £1 book token.

2. You get to wear fancy dress to school.

 

This year I have been surprised, twice, in ways that made me extremely proud. Dylan didn't ask to be Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, Capt. America, Buzz, Woody, a Ninja Turtle, a Power Ranger or any other of the costumes that he's recently procured. He sat with me and we had a think about what books he and his sister enjoy.
Dylan likes Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Fantastic Mr Fox. Isla does not.
Isla likes Alice in Wonderland. Dylan likes the film but not the book and also refused to be the White Rabbit to Isla's Alice. He also refused to be the Mad Hatter which was upsetting and a missed opportunity given his hair in my opinion.
Isla likes books about princesses, Christmas, nursery rhymes and animals.
Dylan likes books about the emergency services, families and the moon.
Then as I was thinking that I might have to relive my mothers nightmare of making an The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark costume Dylan asked me if Captain Hook was from a book.
Hoorah! No paper feathers for me!
Captain Hook is from Peter Pan a book we have read, a film we enjoy and an audiobook Dylan revisits every few months.

Dylan didn't want to be Captain Hook (so why did you ask?!?) but he did want to be Peter.
Which then made Islas costume choice incredibly easy. Tinkerbell, of course. I considered Wendy for about half a second but decided Wendy lacks the sass that any character Isla dresses up as needs. My daughter seems to have buckets of sass. No idea where she gets that from.

         Costumes were easy enough especially after I concluded that it was too cold to send Dylan to school in a handmade tunic and green tights. I went searching for ready made costumes and found a pair in   here and (not here because it's not on their website)that are not only really reasonably priced but also brilliant quality.

This morning at the point where we were about to walk out of the front door and somehow running late Dylan asked if he could take my old copy, which may actually be my mothers old copy of Peter Pan to school with him to show his teacher that he was Peter from the book (despite wearing a Disney costume, oops)

   

   

He's a pretty cool kid and I'm weirdly proud that he found a character from a book himself and even more so that he took the book into school with him.

I feel like that's something I would have done.
And I hope if he's anything like me that he'll continue to love books and learn to respect them and what they can give us.
A place to learn.
A place to explore and get lost.
A place to hide when everything is too much and safety is somewhere after about page fourteen.
A place to relax.
And really a place to be whatever you need it to be.

p.s you should absolutely click the Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark link.

p.p.s you may have noticed my shadow, I did consider claiming wild artistic licence by telling you that it was in fact a representation of Pan's shadow. However I've settled on the truth which is that you pay a heavy price for beautiful natural lighting as the sun rises through your bedroom window. It sucks but my kids are GLOWING.

(Except in the bad quality unnatural lighting photos)