Learning To Read

 

Midge, Jake, Booker-T and Lucy all walked to Jake's house to find the reading book that his owner's niece used to learn how to read. They all followed Jake into the house through the doggie door. Jake went to the bedroom and on the table lay a book with two little humans on the cover.

“What is the name of the book?” asked Midge.

“It is called the “Little Reader,” said Jake as he picked up the book in his mouth and walked back to the living room.

They all sat down on the floor when Jake set the book onto the floor. Jake took his foot and pushed the book open to the first page.

“What does it say, Jake?” asked Lucy.

“These are letters,” said Jake. “These letters make the words.”

“How do they make the words?” asked Booker-T.

“Someone writes the words out,” said Jake.

“Who wrote them?” asked Midge.

“I don't know,” said Jake. “Whoever wrote the book, wrote them out, I think.”

“Does the person know how to read too?” asked Booker-T.

“He has to know how to read so he can write the words,” said Jake touching his paw to the page. “This is the letter A.”

“The A looks like a dunce hat,” laughed Midge. “What does the A do?”

“It helps to spell words so we can read them,” said Jake looking at the page. “I guess the A does look like a dunce cap.”

“What is that letter?” asked Lucy. “It's got two bumps on it.”

“This one is a B,” said Jake.

“Oh, wow,” said Midge. “Does it make honey too?”

“No,” said Jake. “It helps to spell words like the A does.”

“But don't bees make honey?” asked Booker-T.

“Yes, but they are things that fly around,” said Jake. “This is just a letter that goes into different words.”

“Boy,” said Booker-T. “These letters are strange.”

“This one is a C,” said Jake.

“I see it,” said Midge. “What does it see?”

“It don't see anything,” said Jake.

“But it's name is a C,” said Lucy. “What does it do?”

“This one makes words also,” said Jake.

“Wow, “ said Midge. “Look at that letter. It's a really big letter.”

“That's a word,” said Jake. “This word has three letters in it. Do you remember the three letters I just showed you?”

“This one can see,” said Booker-T. “This one here is the dunce cap and that one is the bee.”

“The three letters spell the word, CAB,” read Jake.

“Isn't a cab is a car that picks people up?” asked Lucy.

“Yes,” said Jake.

“The letters know how to spell?” asked Booker-T. “Wow, those letters are smart.”

“What is that word?” asked Lucy. “It has that C in it and the dunce cap, but that one must be a little B. It's missing it's back end.”

“That is the letter R,” laughed Jake.

“What is the R doing?” asked Midge.

“It is just sitting there making words,” said Jake.

“It don't look like it is doing anything,” said Booker-T. “These letters are confusing.”

“Why are they confusing?” asked Jake.

“What is that fat letter?” asked Lucy.

“That is the letter D,” said Jake.

“What does the letter D do?” asked Booker-T.

“It does the same thing the other letters do,” said Jake. “They make words.”

Jake turned the page and there were a lot of letters on the page.

“That is a really big word, Jake.” said Midge. “What is that word?”

“That is not a word,” said Jake.

“This is a word,” said Midge pointing to the car. “Why is this really big one, not a word?”

“This is called the alphabet,” said Jake.

“What is a alphabet?” asked Booker-T. “And what does it do?”

“All the letters in this thing is called the Alphabet,” said Jake. “The humans use them to make words.”

“Humans are smart,” said Midge. “This reading thing is hard, Jake.”

“I know,” said Jake. “But the little humans learn how.”

“Maybe we don't need to learn it,” suggested Midge. “You know how to read and you can tell us what things say when we see signs and all.”

“I think Midge is right,” sighed Lucy. “I think this is one time that the humans are smarter than we are, don't you think so Jake?”

“I do,” smiled Jake.

“School's out!” said Booker-T. “Lets go play. It's more fun!”

“School is good for the little humans and playing is good for us animals,” said Midge. “I will never want to do what the humans do again.”

“Never?” asked Jake.

“Well, maybe some things we can do,” laughed Midge. “I like doing what the humans do sometimes.”