I have a hard time focusing so when I decided to read Shakespeare I read it out loud to my seven year old son and four year old daughter while they were eating. It was the only time they weren’t quivering with action and talking.

I can remember running into the word, “pensive” looking it up in the dictionary, explaining it to them and finishing the play. The next week Paul leaned his chin on his fist and said, “I’m pensive.” then he rested his chin on both fists saying, “I’m double pensive.” They named their first dog Cardinal Wolsey and understood the plot and various sub- plots and applied them to their games.
As a result of having been taught by Paul and Anna I write children’s picture books with full characters, and plots that run through several books.  I introduce new and invented words that are explained and reused immediately and alliterations and word combinations that feel good in your mouth.  Full characters and fun words creates stories that get better at each reading instead of causing dread, shaking, and fear in the out loud readers. See books by Nancy Mauerman at Amazon.    nancymauerman.com