I just finished reading Jane Eyre to my now fourteen year old daughter. It has been one of my favorite books since I was a young girl and it gets better with each reading. For the little red this was her first reading and she had no idea of what to expect.

At first the little red would rail against me reading because she would get so mad at how the Aunt and cousins would treat Jane. She feels so acutely the pain that others cause and has trouble separating from the story at times. I urged her to continue on and encouraged her that Jane would triumph in the end. However there were a few nights when the little red would just scream at me for reading that terrible book. I knew that she was feeling Janes pain and upset. However as Jane made friends with Helen Burns the little reds interest peaked.

We read a least one chapter a night and sometimes more at different times of the day. The little red has trouble processing words in her head when she reads them. Her thoughts get jumbled and sometimes random thoughts run around in her head like on a race track. When I read aloud to her we can pause and discuss the story as we go along. Some issues we go over several times.

The parts when Jane is in the school I think may have intrigued the little red because she has known other kids who had to live in institutions. But the lessons of how Jane perservered and stayed a good person, I think are extremely valuable lessons for a young troubled teen.

The little red was very moved by Mr Rochester proclaiming his love for Jane and then how near the end when Jane could hear Mr Rochester calling her through his spirit. The little red said that part really affected her. She just loved, loved, loved this book.

Just a little side note....I did a little paraphrasing when the script was talking about Mr Rochesters first wife. She was mentally ill and they refered to her as crazy, mad, insane...etc. Since the little red has difficulties I thought it was prudent to make the words a little less harsh and condemning. She still got the point of the story but didn't feel personally insulted or belittled. It was also good to find that Mr Rochester still cared for his first wife and risked his life to try to save her. He ended up burnt and blind, but this just made him even more dear to Jane. I loved the way Jane didn't compromise her values even though she loved Mr Rochester with all her heart.