Oscar-Go

Reading has informed much of our year. Oscar and I spent many of his third grade mornings reading the Percy Jackson series, a modern-day Greek Mythology adventure, out loud while we waited for his bus to come. We looked forward to our reading time every day and plowed through the first book, and quickly moved on to the others. Oscar talked about it often and convinced David he should read the series. By the time Oscar and I got partway through the fifth and final book, David caught up with us. So, one weekend in the spring the three of us snuggled up on the couch and finished the series out loud together.

And in the fall, the day after Oscar’s 9th birthday, Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson series, came to Rochester and we had the opportunity to hear him speak.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have always loved reading out loud—so much so that before Oscar was born, I developed a class for young children that was based entirely on me reading many picture books out loud (and then doing  some projects around them). Once Oscar was born, we started reading to him almost immediately, and delighted for many years in the range of picture books we enjoyed together. By the end of first grade, Oscar was reading to himself fully independently, and he no longer wanted to be read to. David and I were so proud, and also completely crushed. Here was our child engaging independently in this activity that means so much to us as individuals, but here he was, no longer willing to have us be a part of reading. Luckily, after a few months time, he regained his willingness to be read to.

When he was younger Oscar used to scare easily, and we’d always have to look ahead in a book so he could be prepared for what was coming, or he would watch shows sometimes with the sound off, so as to not get startled (and for the most part he did not watch movies at all until his third grade teacher introduced the class to Willy Wonka—then his interest in movies took off). So, I hadn’t been sure what would happen when we started Percy Jackson, if it would be a little too much for him. And there were times he didn’t want to read it right before bed. But once we got through the first or second book, his threshold for edge-of-your-seat adventures had increased significantly.

Partway through reading Percy Jackson, we started talking about the idea of reading Harry Potter. Oscar had heard so much about the books over the years, and was fascinated by them, but had known they would be too scary when he was younger. David and I had always looked forward to the time when we would read the Harry Potter books out loud to Oscar, because we are such big fans ourselves. In fact, I mentioned this idea of us reading the books to him so many times over the years, I worried I said it so often that when the time came he would want read them on his own just to spite me. Once we finished Percy Jackson we took a bit of a break from reading out loud together, but were still thinking about the idea of starting Harry Potter before too long.

One early spring morning, just as Oscar was getting on the bus—he was already on the lift raising up—he says, “Oh by the way, Mr. Bozek is going to start reading Harry Potter to the class today.” I was dumbfounded. This couldn’t possibly be true! (Later that morning I wished I had taken him off the bus and started Harry Potter with him right then and there!). But it was true, and it catapulted us into a Harry Potter reading frenzy! His class read the first chapter that day and we read the second chapter that night. The next day in school they read the second chapter and the first part of the third. Since the third chapter is when all the letters from Hogwarts magically arrive, I insisted on re-reading it aloud, much to Oscar’s chagrin, and then we read the fourth chapter. All week it was like a race to stay ahead of the class, but the weekend allowed us to plow forward. And re-reading each chapter in school was a delight to Oscar because his teacher had the illustrated version, and brought another level of magic to the story.

Oscar loved the book as much as we hoped he would. He talked about it constantly and regularly forecasted what he thought might happen next. We wasted no time diving into the second book, and then the third. We took a short break before starting the fourth, and another break before we started the fifth, which we are currently reading.

So naturally, when we went to the SMA conference this year, which was in Orlando, we took a day to go to Harry Potter World at Universal Studios. We spent 12 hours there, and all three of us were mesmerized by the magic of it all. Even my mom, who has not read the Harry Potter books, was pretty impressed. Oscar was so dazzled and delighted (and truth be told, I was pretty wide-eyed with a child’s wonder myself), and that day remains one of the main highlights of Oscar’s year, for sure!

 

 

 

And naturally when it came time to plan Oscar’s birthday party, he knew he wanted it to be Harry Potter-themed. Since I run the youth programs at Writers & Books, and since we run a Harry Potter camp every summer where we turn our entire building into a version of Hogwarts, it was easy enough to borrow some things from work, in addition to creating some of our own wizarding world decorations, in order to decorate our house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then when Halloween came around, he knew he wanted to be his favorite character from the books: Sirius Black. And he decided he should be riding a hippogriff, naturally. Luckily, one of Oscar’s friends was a hippogriff for Halloween two years ago and the family generously offered to let us borrow their exquisite hand-made wings, and mask.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David and I had some exciting literary experiences this year, also. I continued working, for a second year, with my creative nonfiction writing class/group. In February I attended the AWP conference (basically the largest writers conference that exists) for the first time. Here I am with Nadia and Julie, two of the writers from my amazing writing group/class, waiting for Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Ta-Nehisi Coates to start their talk (one of the highlights of the conference for sure).

 

And this year, after having been part of the cast of Listen to Your Mother: Rochester in 2016, I joined the production team with this incredible group of women. It is remarkable to me to be a part of a production that showcases the two things I care most about in this world: motherhood and the writing/telling of true stories. (Save the date for May 12, 2018 and visit www.rocthemic.org for more info)!

At he beginning of 2017 David set himself a writing challenge to work on certain short story projects each month and made some great headway. And this fall David had the chance to meet one of his favorite authors, Michael Chabon, who came to town for the Jewish Book Festival:

 

In addition to Percy Jackson and Harry Potter, here are some of the other books one or more of us has especially enjoyed reading this year: Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison, Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, Moon Glow by Michael Chabon, The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit, No Man’s Land by Eula Biss, Magnus Chase: The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan, The Last Apprentice (Revenge of the Witch) by Joseph Delaney, Wing and Claw: Forest of Wonders by Linda Sue Park.

We look forward to more adventures, literary and otherwise, in 2018.

 

More highlights from 2017

Attending the Women’s March in Seneca Falls (birthplace of women’s rights) with dear friends:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amazing Teachers:

 

Big Birthdays! Both my parents celebrated their 70th birthdays this year and we had a wonderful time throwing them each parties. (Though failed to get any group shots during the parties showing each of their amazing groups of friends from over the years).