Recently I gathered my class of eleven third and fourth graders for our new “Tales” selection.  While I read aloud the first chapter of One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, I was aware of the familiar but ever new hush that fills the room when the listeners, one by one, enter their own “flow”- captivated, engaged.  Bodies relax, eyes meet with a knowing nod, a delicious aroma of camaraderie and shared joy seems to seep like a slithering genie over and around the schoolroom.  The phrase “reading assignment” conjures up and carries a hint of ‘outside-in’ obligation, while this sort of reading is nothing short of a gift. By the end of the morning’s selection, I realized that we did not know if the daughter would survive the morning.  But, our time for tales was over, and it was time to move to the next reading.  The children began to beg.  “Please keep reading.  You CANNOT stop here!” This is the scenario that teachers and parents dream about.  But the added gilding on this moment’s …