Read Aloud: Little Women and Tom Sawyer

We're still at the beginning of these--the going is usually slow because we can't find time to read every night, and sometimes I either lose my voice or fall asleep mid-sentence. I'm usually not ambitious enough to read the kids two stories at once, but I was not counting on Jeremy's traumatic reaction to my announcement that we were reading Little Women. I guess I just don't know what it's like to be the only boy(11) with three sisters(13, 8, and 5)! He had a complete, tear-filled meltdown in his room that night (and I should note that Jeremy is pretty mellow about things), so I offered to read Tom Sawyer to him. He has read it before, but I haven't, and I am enjoying it very much. Here's a funny part we read last night from Chapter 6:

"Monday morning found Tom Sawyer miserable. Monday morning always found him so--because it began another week's slow suffering in school. He generally began that day with wishing he had had no intervening holiday, it made the going into captivity and fetters again so much more odious.
Tom lay thinking. Presently it occurred to him that he wished he was sick; then he could stay home from school. Here was a vague possibility. He canvassed his system. No ailment was found, and he investigated again. This time he thought he could detect colicky symptoms, and he began to encourage them with considerable hope." Reading on you discover which illness he settles on faking, and the consequences of his deception.
In Little Women, all of my kids are amused that there is a girl named Jo, and a boy named Laurie! I've been impressed with how much the March girls adore their "Marmee." I am more often unaffectionately referred to as "VoldeMom."

One thing to note about these books is that we are reading from my husband's copy of Tom Sawyer from when he was younger, and my grandmother's copy of Little Women. She signed her name and the year 1941.