Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Big Nate On a Roll

"Time to read"
"Nooo. Nooo."
"Yes."
Then I sit on his bed and pat the spot next to me. 
After about four more minutes of perfunctory 
but seemingly unavoidable protests,
he joins me and reads, and reads
-all the way to the end of the chapter.
He didn't even ask how long or how many pages. 
I stopped him once to ask who would make a perfect couple.
"I don't know"
"Then look in the book."
This took awhile.
"Gina and Artur."
"Why would they make a perfect couple?"
"I don't know."
"You just read about it."
"Which page?"
"The one you just read."
"Which one?"
"This one."
So he is still reading much faster than he is comprehending, 
but his familiarity with the series is paying off in some ways. 
He commented at one point. 
"This should say 'I hate Gina.'"
And he knew that Nate liked Jenny. Remembering character relationships from one book to the next gives him a headstart 
with the book.
This is one reason I think series books can be so great for kids 
with autism (or without (or for adults for that matter)). 
Scholastic publishes the Big Nate series and it falls into
what is best described as the Wimpy Kid genre with Dork
Diaries (for girls) and Lenny&Mel (for true zaniness)
chapter books that rely as much on drawings as words with
decidedly flawed protagonists.
-Spectrum Mom

1 comment:

  1. My son loves this series. Cannot stop him. He will even sneak to go read it.

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