Today I will be sharing some of my favorite books that my dad read to me when I was little. My dad has always been great at reading aloud. He does all of the voices and funny accents (His Gollum is wonderful) and he never stutters. Whenever he was reading a chapter book, my siblings and I would always beg for another chapter and, if we were very lucky, he would keep going. So, here are some of the very best books he ever read to me and my brothers and sisters.
The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis is my favorite book in the Chronicles of Narnia. My dad read them all to us multiple times, but this was the one I would look forward to. It is the story of a runaway boy and a horse whose name is too long to type who set off on an adventure and meet friends, foes, family and a feisty maiden. (It helps that I am a total sucker for twins separated at birth and long-lost princes.)
While The Hobbit is not as good as The Lord of the Rings in my opinion, no one reads it better than my dad. He reads it to make you laugh at Bilbo and shiver at the spiders of Mirkwood. (Or is that just my arachnophobia talking?) The scenes where Bilbo and Gollum have their battle of riddles is one of my favorites. Dad gave them both unique voices and his Gollum impersonation rivals Andy Serkis'.
Little Britches is the true story of a young boy growing into a man. It is the first book in a lovely series about Ralph and his youthful adventures. It is probably not the sort of book I would ever have picked up on my own, but it was great. Actually, I think my mom was the one who first found it, but my dad was the one who made me love it.
Okay, I have to go way back for this one and I am probably making myself look like an idiot, but I can't make a list of books that my dad read to me without including Are You My Mother? There is no way to describe how my dad reads this book, it just would not translate properly into words, but if you have a very young child, read this book to them in the silliest, strangest accent ever and they will love it. So speaks the voice of experience.What are your favorite books that your dad read to you? Happy Father's Day!
