my favorite book as a child..

One of the books that I enjoyed hearing my father read to me was the stories by Brier Rabbit, from Uncle Remus. As a child, I did not understand the symbolism of Uncle Remus, and what the time period of the story was during slavery. I do remember my father reading the words and using the dialect in the book, he would explain that this was the language used at the time in the South. He also shared that these were stories that were told verbally and passed down from different generations. What i enjoyed was sitting next to my father and hearing about a rabbit who liked to get into a lot of mischief, something I often did. As a child I did not go beyond the book and make the deeper connection with the reason that their was broken English was that slaves were not able to read or write. I don't feel that my father was hiding this from me, but instead wanting me to enjoy a book that was written to bring humor and a life lesson. the life lesson that I learned was being honest and treating people the way that you wanted to be treated. And most importantly that when you try to get over on someone, you get hurt in the end. I have fond memories sitting with my father at night, and getting to chose the story that I wanted to hear him read, and then talking about the story afterwards. This is something I have continued to do with my children, and to bring a life lesson into the story so that they can find greater meaning beyond the book.