On the way home from dinner (kids eat free Tuesday!), Jeff and I decided to just start asking questions about The Hobbit to see if he remembered any of the details (the book was finished about a month ago, reading between half-a-chapter and two a night with Jeff).
Because P had just gotten a dragon painted on his arm by the clown at the restaurant, my first question was, "P, what was the name of the dragon in The Hobbit?" He answered, "Smog." right quickly, too!! We asked a series of questions both about facts, major plot points, and also overall comprehension of the underlying themes, and he displayed a very good understanding and an attention to the details of the book.
We are now considering which book to start him on next, either Harry Potter or maybe Spiderwick (we have tried The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe now twice, and he seemed disinterested. He is currently in the middle of reading part of the Random House Step Up Biography Book Series from the 1960s/1970s with such titles as Meet Benjamin Franklin, Meet Andrew Jackson, Meet Robert E. Lee, Meet George Washington, Meet Abraham Lincoln, Meet Thomas Jefferson, and Meet John F. Kennedy. (We inherited these from my cousins, who got them when they were little.)
