Rosie looked as if she might cry. “Why can’t I read interesting books?” she wailed.
“You will be able to read interesting books soon enough, Rosie. You will read books that will take you to far-away lands, to magical places and olden days and even to the future! But first, you must read this book,” Mummy said, struggling inwardly to maintain a calm, cheery, patient manner.
“’The rat was fat. He wore a red hat.’” Rosie shuddered but continued to read. The book did not get any more interesting, but Mummy seemed mesmerized by it, and Rosie did not interrupt herself again to complain. Perhaps it would get better, and Mummy was right. She usually was, Rosie had to admit.
With Herculean effort, Rosie finished the book. Mummy was very pleased.
“Yes, I’m pleased it’s over, Mummy. Will my next book be more interesting?”
“I’m sure it will be! Er, a bit.” Mummy could not tell a fib, even in dire situations, when she expected her children to be truthful.
“Oh, Mummy, I can’t bear to read another boring one!”
“Really, Rosie, channel some of this flair for melodrama into the book, and it will make it much more entertaining!” “I suppose,” Rosie replied, a bit wounded. She did not see anything melodramatic about not wanting to languish in boredom reading silly books. After all, she could be having a lovely time listening to Mummy read an exciting story to her.
The lesson was a struggle each day, not because Rosie had trouble sounding things out, because she usually didn’t. But she struggled with the lack of plot in the books she was forced to read. Slowly, the books began to include actual stories, and much more challenging words. Rosie’s interest and enjoyment grew with her vocabulary, and Mummy’s relief!
As Rosie’s skill increased, she joined in family story time, taking her turn reading aloud from the penguins’ favorite story books. She read rather slowly and deliberately at first, but it wasn’t long before she was one of the most animated readers of the family, and the other penguins anticipated her turn with great excitement. What funny voice or accent would Rosie use today? What contortions would she stretch her face into this time? She knew how to put on a good show!
“Rosie, you are such a good, committed reader!” Papa Penguin exclaimed one night after a particularly spectacular performance.
“Thank you, Papa,” Rosie panted, a bit out of breath after her impassioned soliloquy. “Reading is so much fun!”
“I think you may be an actress,” Papa told her. “Your flair for dramatics is a great tool when you read.”
“I shall read dramatically as long as I can breathe, see, and speak!” Rosie replied, proving his point.
“Good thing you, and she, struggled through the rough start,” Papa told Mummy Penguin later that evening after bedtime stories and prayers had concluded. “She is a gifted little reader, just needed to stay the course.”
“Yes, she is,” Mummy replied. “One day soon she’ll laugh over how she dreaded reading her lessons every day. Now she would much rather read than be read to! It’s very rewarding to see her enthusiasm.”
And as Mummy and Papa Penguin did their own reading in the cozy living room, little Rosie was snug under her blankets with a teensy flashlight, reading silently to herself and marveling at the magic contained in the pages of a book. Once you got past the ones about cats and mats and rats, that is.
The Drones Book Club 
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