Tuesday Slice: Turning pages

He was sitting on the floor with a paperback picture book of Going on a Bear Hunt.  He had asked me to read it when I sat down for storytime, but I already had two books picked out to share from the library.  He acquiesced at that moment, but obviously hadn't forgotten his first choice when it came time for independent reading.

I am constantly reminding kindergarteners to turn their pages "at the corner, corner, corner", trying to avoid the tears in the middle of the page.  So when I see a pre-K student with a regular book instead of the board books I bring to share, I am extra-vigilant, just waiting for a page to be ripped.

But that didn't happen here. He sat by himself in the middle of the carpet, focused on the images and ever-so-gently turning the pages.  You could tell he was silently reading the story, if only by walking through the pictures.  I wasn't about to disturb that reverie with "at the corner, corner, corner."  

Leaving him be, I turned my attention to the table, where another insistent little boy coerced me into reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, forcibly turning the board book pages before I barely had time to finish the lines.