Lots of giggles reading Dick and Jane Jump and Run

I was surprised last night when my oldest and I read a borrowed library copy of Dick and Jane Jump and Run before bed.  It really gave my son the giggles!  He immediately asked to read it again, saying it's a funny book. 

Who knew that Dick and Jane would be a hit?  Not me.  As a modern mom who grew up in the 70's and 80's, I had the impression of Dick and Jane being terribly old fashioned, patriarchal, non-diverse and somehow very wrong for today, just too simple and old.  (What is weird is that I'm fine with traditional roles and lifestyles but still I felt this strange gut resistance.) Maybe it's the little perfect blonde kids or something else about it that made me want to reject Dick and Jane.  However, my mother in law collects old 1950's schoolbooks and has some Dick and Jane in her collection.  I thought it wouldn't hurt to check one out at the library, and I considered that the word repetition would be a good experience for my oldest (almost four years old).

Enough of my weird bias.  My son loved it.  He seemed to enjoy the repetitive words and he also loved Puff (the kitten) and Spot (the puppy).  He also laughed at all the lines and pictures with "funny, funny", as in.... (illustration of Spot running away with a stick) Oh, oh, Spot!  Oh, oh, oh.  Funny, funny Spot.)  As a read aloud, I got to work on my vocal interpretation to make the story more interesting, which was fun for me too.

On our second read, I tried to persuade A. to read some of the words but he refused.  We will try that again when he's more awake and after more reading.  The kids' votes count -- Dick and Jane Jump and Run is a hit in our house, and anything that gives my son sweet giggle fits is welcome by me. I'm over my bias. We may need to add this one to our collection.

Read with Dick and Jane: Jump and Run (Dick and Jane)