Fourth-grader, cozy in igloo, reads Barbara O'Connor's HOW TO STEAL A DOG. Photo credit: Katarina Krek.
Here’s a new take on curling up with a favorite book on a snowy day: build an igloo. I love this picture beyond reckoning. It’s a fourth-grader happily nestled in a snow fort, reading Barbara O’Connor‘s delightful How to Steal a Dog, oblivious to the outside world. (The reader’s mom sent the photo to Ms. O’Connor after a school author visit.)
Isn’t that what a great book does? Absorb you so deeply you aren’t aware of anything around you but the world of the story? Susan Cooper captured that absorption perfectly in Dreams and Wishes: Essays on Writing for Children (p. 24, if you want to know):
Watch the child reading a book: really reading, totally caught up in the world into which the words on the page have transported him…. He is sprawled or curled or propped in some inelegant position, face concentrated and intent, motionless; he isn’t with you any more. He doesn’t hear you when you call; he doesn’t notice that the sun has set and that he should turn on the light. He’s away out there with the author, in wonderland.
Someone needs to contact the photographer to make this into a reading poster pronto. Really. It’s iconic.
Since we’re expecting a giant dumping of snow tonight and Wednesday, I invite you to send me your photos of snowy-day reading. I’ll post the best ones here.
Thanks for posting. I love the photo (and your comments)!
And, stay warm. You must be in the same area of the country we are. Wonderful photos aside, I’m ready for spring. 🙂
I love the igloo. Maybe my bookworm grandchildren and I should build one tomorrow when the snow/ice stops coming down……….
LOVE this picture!!! Where are the Facebook “Like” and Twitter “Tweet” buttons for this blog? I had to cut and paste to post on my Facebook page. Thanks for the post. I’m in Santa Fe and it is a lousy 9 degrees here right now. I’ve had it with winter, but this igloo picture makes me almost like it still!
By coincidence I’m reading and loving the same book but in Florida. Nothing to do but read, scribble and shovel sunshine. I’m missing all the exciting weather!
Wow. I love it. I was hoping the kids could replicate this tomorrow, but the Reading In Igloo is even better:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150132827251412&set=a.202422591411.159086.64075031411&ref=nf
Maybe you’ll start a movement of some kind! Anything to get more people reading. : )
Wonderful photo! I tweeted a link to this page.
What a wonderful description of what was going on here! For those interested in trying it, she actually dug the nook out of a snowbank to create the igloo. So simple!
She loved the book…..couldn’t put it down!
Thank YOU for sharing the photo! It’s a big hit with children’s book people.
Solitude + book = Perfection! Way to use the tools Nature gave her!
Thanks for posting this! Love that girl!
I love it! This is one happy child – an igloo, a good book, and no one to interrupt until they are ready for hot chocolate. 🙂