Karma to you PY.
I almost understand your problem, but I think you have it worse than me. My dd also loves books. She sounds at about the same reading level as your child. She will/can read YBCR books and other simple books which have been read to her before. She will read those on her own, but also LOVES for me to read to her. Most days I am convinced I spend 50% of my time reading. We read for about an hour every morning after she wakes up. She insists on a few books before she eats lunch. Then of course we have a big reading session every afternoon. My dd doesn’t nap but we do spend an hour or two every afternoon on her bed reading. She will read some books and I will read the rest. Of course we read a few books after dinner. Her bedtime routine usually includes about an hour of reading before she falls asleep. And Yes, many many nights she wakes up at 3 am asking for a story. I too think it is great that my dd loves books, and yet somedays I am convinced I am going to go batty if I have to read another kids book.
I do hope that as she learns to read more and more on her own that my reading time with her will be reduced. Yes, my house is a disaster because for the moment I have decided reading is a priority. One day she won’t need me to read to her at all, nor want me to. That thought sustains me through the 100+ books I read in a day.
So, I have tried a few strategies. A few have been mentioned already. I do own hundreds of books that I rotate so that they are not all out at once and can be ‘fresh’ again a few weeks from now. Thankfully we have a library that lends 100 books at a time, and yes the library is better than the candy store.
I have started to read longer classics to my child. We have been reading our way through ‘Little Women’ the last week, but we have also done the ‘Wind in the Willows’ and ‘Secret Garden’. I have been reading abridged small chapter books of these classics. I find a small chapter book means that I might only have to read for 30 minutes instead of 60 minutes of 20 smaller books. Also, the classic chapter books keep my interest a little better so that helps with my sanity. There is a great post on brillkids somewhere regarding classic books for kids. I am slowly working my way through the list.
I have tried the strategy of reading a book that has activity in it and then trying to get her involved in that activity again. Such as reading a book about baking a cake then sometimes I can get her to bake with me instead of reading. I admit this doesn’t always work, but at least sometimes it does.
For the 3 am reading sessions, I do try to focus my reading on books that end in sleeping or are about sleeping. I have also tried ‘telling her story’ vs reading a story. I will just make up a random story, again I try to stick to sleeping themes and making my dd the center of the story. Again, this doesn’t always work, but it saves my sanity when it does. The advantage of telling a story over reading a story is that telling a story you can do in the dark, the child doesn’t need to sit up and look at a book, and hopefully you can rub their back to sleep.
I do hope my dd establishes a lifetime love of reading. In the meantime, just trying to keep sanity! Good Luck to you PY.
I guess some people, including little kids, are more obsessive than others.