Rikuto is still less than two months old, but since he wouldn’t sleep and had joined me at the computer – well, in a basket on the floor next to me – I thought I’d find a bedtime story to read to him. A quick Google search for “Children’s Bedtime Stories” brought up Gordon Dioxide’s collection of stories for 5-11 year olds. Obviously these are nothing but random noise to Rikuto, but perfect for a big kid like me.
I only read one, but was absorbed in Becky and George, a very funny tale about an argument between a father and his son. It’s riddled with British colloquialisms that I haven’t heard since I left England a decade ago, and I was reminded of how much I loved the earlier Harry Potter books.
Two thousand years later the dinosaurs returned to take over the Earth. The only humans left alive were Dad and George. Dad was still in so much of a rage that he didn’t even notice that there were no other people about. George was now 2,049 years old. He had a long white beard that kept getting in the way when he was ironing.
Why was Dad so angry? What was George ironing? You’ll have to read it yourself to find out. Go on, indulge yourself for twenty minutes!
I grew up on Roald Dahl books, and look forward to reading stories like The BFG, Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate factory to Riku when he gets a bit older. In the meantime, the Internet is filled with freely available children’s stories to keep me occupied until Rikuto is able to understand them. 
I love your dolch word website. I use the phrase activities all the time. It has helped with improving fluency and accuracy in a fun way. My students grades 1-5 enjoy the dice game and the rock-paper-scissors. We use all the activities and I have passed it on to other teachers. Thanks so much.
