| From
the March/April 1997 issue of The Horn Book Magazine
Snapshot
“Luckily”
By Peter Sis
 y
daughter Madeleine is four years old. She loves ballerinas. My son
Matej is two years old. He is a firetruck. If I read about the ballerinas
I do not know how to pronounce curtsies or jetée.
When I read about firetrucks I get confused between hook-and-ladder,
pumpers, or lift-your-hose pumper trucks. I feel bad, especially
in the expectations of things to come, since I didn’t grow
up in this country, didn’t eat pizza until I was about fifteen,
and find peanut butter and jelly repulsive. I am learning to live
with it and more. Luckily I have an American wife who is both smart
and pretty (I mean patient). I am still finding out about the culture
here. I was told I should read to the embryo (each one of them)
in my wife’s belly. Somehow I missed that. I was told I should
start reading to my kids first thing in the morning. Since my kids
get up before six I am not able to read first thing to them. It
is dark and I am not well. I am waiting for the Sesame Street
in fact. Even for Barney. I know television is bad. I see
the “lighthouse-like” expressions on my children’s
faces while automatically sucking on their bottles. I hate those
songs and alphabets over and over again. But maybe I’ll get
another fifteen minutes of sleep out of it. Luckily I have a wife
who is both intelligent and educated so she can correct that.
The worst is when I cannot read to my kids because
I have to travel somewhere else to read to some other kids from
the book I have written for my own kids. It is called promotion.
Luckily I have a wife who is both American and tough. I do not think
I will go and promote any more.
Despite all I have just said I have to say that
Matej now regularly brings books “to read” (about trucks).
Madeleine completely shocked me the other day when she started to
read me Wanda Gág’s Millions of Cats. I was
speechless, I was impressed, I was in the state of shock. It took
my wife to explain to me that she memorizes everything. Actually
she can read most of the letters . . . and count
in Spanish . . . and knows our phone number . . .
WHAT A COUNTRY!
|
