
I just read an interesting New York Times article about a father and daughter who made a pact to read together every night. Jim regularly read to his older daughter every night at bedtime, but one night, when she was in 4th grade, she told her father she could handle it from there. And that ended their shared nightly ritual.
Well, Jim continued reading to his younger daughter, Kristen, but when she reached 4th grade, he feared that special time together would once again come to an end. Determined not to let that happen, he proposed that they try to see if they could read together 100 bedtimes in a row without missing once. She accepted the challenge, and so they began with a book from one of their favorite series, The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum. The “Streak,” as their reading challenge came to be known, ended 100 nights later with a perfect record. They hadn’t missed a single night. They celebrated with a pancake breakfast where Kristen whispered to her father, “I think we should try for 1000 nights.” And so the Streak continued.
After they successfully reached 1000 nights, they thought, “How can we stop now?” The father and daughter continued reading together nightly. As Kristen grew older and became involved in various activities, sometimes special arrangements had to be made. For instance, when she was involved with late night rehearsals at a local community theater, Jim would show up at the theater and read to her between scenes. Once when Jim traveled to Washington, D.C. Kristen called her dad at night so he could read to her over the phone. Even nights when she was out late with her teenage friends, she made them stop by her house before her dad went to bed so they could read together, and then she headed back out with her friends. Through the years they read everything from James Marshall’s “George and Martha” books to Harry Potter, Charles Dickens to Agatha Christie, even Shakespeare. They read all fourteen titles in their favorite series, L. Frank Baum’s Oz books, four times each. Jim has built a collection of over 700 of the best books they’ve read together over the years.
During the first year of the Streak, Kristen’s two remaining grandparents died, her older sister left home to attend Yale, and her mother left her father. Through these difficult changes, and many others through the years, one thing remained constant: the nightly shared reading ritual. The joy of father and daughter reading together was one thing that provided stability.
3,218 nights later, the Streak finally came to an end. Kristen moved away to attend university, and they both knew it was time to end their nightly ritual. After Jim had helped his daughter move all of her things into her dorm room, they read together one last time. They ended where they started, by reading the first chapter of their beloved The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
This moving, and true, story of Jim Brozina and his daughter Kristen displays the power of families reading together. Parents often cease reading to their children once they start reading on their own, but the Olathe Public Library believes it is important for families to continue sharing the joy of a good book together. The Children’s Department offers a Family Read-Aloud Club where families can earn free books by reading together. Parents, for every six books (at least 80 pages in length) you read to your elementary-aged children, you can receive a free book. Click here to learn more about it. Sign up for the Family Read-Aloud Club at the Children’s Services Desk, and get started on your own personal ”Streak!”