Narnia, Green Gables, and Ryley

Ryley is finally at the age Ryan and I been waiting for…the age when we as parents can begin to share our favorite stories with her...when we can pass on to her a love for the very characters that helped shape and define  and inspire us when we were young.

So we decided that this summer we would each, individually,  introduce her to our favorite book, then watch the corresponding movie together.

I chose “Anne of Green Gables.” It was an abridged junior edition, but it was the same beautiful story nonetheless. And as we alternated reading with watching the mini-series, Ryley told me that she liked my “Anne” voice when I read much better than the actress’s voice on the movie. Considering that I worked so hard on my Anne voice, that was the best compliment she could have given me. :-) She also loves it when I do Rachel Lynde.

It has been so fun to witness her frustration at Anne’s haughtiness, to see her genuine sadness when Matthew dies, to hear her ask time and time again if Anne marries Gilbert at the end, to hear her talk out her comparisons when the book and the movie story lines don’t quite line up. We finally finished both the book and the movie yesterday, and her joy at the ending did not disappoint! She bounced around our bed in jubilation that Anne finally realized Gilbert had been the one all along. I honestly think that, since the moment I found out I was expecting a baby girl, this was the motherhood moment I had been waiting for. :-)

Now that we’ve concluded our girlie time, Ryan has launched into “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” his favorite book of all time. Ryley loves it. What’s even better for me is to watch the joy in Ryan’s face as he reads it to her and to hear how his voice caresses each word of the story like it’s an old friend. In response, Ryley’s eyes grow wide when she fears for Mr. Tumnus’s life and when she hopes aloud that Lucy and Edmund will just stay safely back in the real world and not try to bring their brother and sister back to that strange land called Narnia.

The goal is to read the first three books of the series and watch the first two movies in preparation for the third Narnia movie which comes out in December.

Then what? “Little Women”?  I showed Ryley my collection of Anne books that she can read when she’s a bit older, and she was thrilled that there is even more to the story.

Nothing can live up to Narnia or Green Gables.

In our book, at least. :-)