Today is World Read Aloud Day.

Reading out loud is a tradition in my family. Growing up, Mom read to us every night. As I got older, I read to her as she ironed Dad’s shirts and other wrinkly items before the age of wash-and-wear cotton blends.

Together, Mom and I enjoyed The Borrowers, The Secret Garden, and so many other classics.

And so, when James was in third grade and his teacher started reading one chapter of The Tale of Despereaux to the class each week, he couldn’t wait to tell me about it.

Well. We were so impatient to hear about Despereaux’s adventures, we bought our own copy and read ahead. Out loud, of course.

Mom was delighted. Another grandchild hooked on books. We hatched a plan.

“James, do you think Nana and Papa would like The Tale of Despereaux as much as we do?”

My nine year old nodded enthusiastically.

“What would you think about reading it to them – in person?”

The plan was to fly to Connecticut on a Thursday evening and then spend the next few days reading aloud. We’d head home on Sunday, either way.

James nodded solemnly. I could almost hear the gears spinning in his head as he calculated how many pages per hour he could manage.

We were off on our adventure! Mom and Dad cleared their schedule and welcomed James to their comfiest couch. He talked us through his plan to read the entire book to us in two days.

And then he began.

The Newberry Award-winning book by Kate DiCamillo kept us enthralled. James managed not to rush the narrative, which impressed us tremendously. Although he had to scold us a few times when we chatted too long following a bathroom break, his tone was gentle. As we fell in love with the brave little mouse named Despereaux, a wretched rat, a princess named Pea, and a sad creature called Miggery Sow (who proclaims “Gor!” quite often), we also re-fell in love with the red-haired boy who wanted to share the story.

To this day, my dad remembers the length of the book.

“Two hundred, seventy-six pages!” he proclaimed without a moment’s hesitation when I told him about my plans to blog about our special weekend in 2008.

Just a few weeks after our visit, Despereaux hit the big screen. James and I went to see it opening weekend.

Of course, James and I agreed the book was far superior to the movie. (No offense, movie.) And I can attest to the fact that the reading aloud of a story by a nine-year-old child is the very best way to experience any book, but most especially The Tale of Despereaux.

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