Is this book fiction?

     “Is this book fiction?”  “Or is it a true story?”  These are the first two questions out of Rebekah’s mouth every time I give her a new reading book.  She likes both fiction and non-fiction, but wants to know before starting to read a book. 

     She had finished a really hard (for her) book last week. So, this week, being a short week I pulled out a book from the Sonlight Pre-K or K program we used two years ago called “Five True Dog Stories”, for her to read.  My thinking was to give her an easier book so she doesn’t get discouraged.  (Rebekah reads very well, she just doesn’t like to read so therefore needs a lot of encouragement.)  Boy, did she surprise me by finishing the book in one day.  She has to read for 30 minutes everyday.  She finished the first 4 stories in the book during the day.  Then that evening she did something that I never recall her doing before.  She willingly climbed on her dad’s lap and read him the last chapter.  The story was about Balto and they had a great discussion about Alaska and the Iditarod.  She was even telling me the next day about what facts Daddy told her. 

     So, on to the rest of the week.  Back to true Rebekah style.  I pulled out 3 books for her to choose from: “In Grandma’s Attic”, “My Father’s Dragon”, and “Dolphin Adventure”. She looked them over,asked her typical fiction or non-fiction question. Then we read the back of the books because she wanted to know what each story was about. Then she reminisced about “My Father’s Dragon” as we had read it out loud and it was a favorite.  And then came the deciding factor for Rebekah. The final question, the question that would make the deciding factor of which book she wanted to read.  “How many chapters are there?'” 

    So she is reading “Dolphin Adventure” because it was the shortest.  She is really enjoying her choice though, letting me know what the diver is up to and what happens to the baby dolphin.

     Oh, Rebekah, hopefully one day you will enjoy reading as much as your brothers and sister and mother.  But for now, we will continue to set the timer for your 30 minutes  and finding great (if not always short) books for you to read.