Four-year-old Fairfield girl reading at impressive level

FAIRFIELD — Josephine Caplan is 4 years old, but you’d never guess that by the books she reads.

Josephine lives in Fairfield with her parents Eric Caplan and Sara Sanders. From the day she was born, Eric and Sara have been reading aloud to Josephine. They read to her for one to 1.5 hours per day, in addition to the time she reads by herself.

Josephine not only reads on her own, but can read books written for children twice her age. Her favorite book series is the Mercy Watson series about a pig who goes on adventures. The books are 60-70 pages long and are intended for children 8 or 9 years old.

“We started reading them a couple of years ago, and now Josephine can read most of them by herself,” Sara said.

Sara said Josephine learned the alphabet when she was 2 years old, but it wasn’t until just recently that she noticed her daughter’s advanced reading skills.

“About nine months ago, I could see that she was reading on her own, because I would read a sentence and she would say, ‘No mommy, you didn’t say that word.’ I didn’t know she was reading that well until she started correcting me,” Sara said.

Sara said another of Josephine’s favorite book series is the Magic Tree House, designed for kids ages 6-8, and they’ve read 27 books in the series.

“Some of the words are too big for her, so I’ll stop and ask her about them, and then she’ll start reading where we left off,” Sara said.

Sara said that the couple prioritized reading to Josephine from the beginning.

“We heard that literacy is really important when kids are small, so we wanted to give her the best jump on it,” she said. “We would sit down with her on our lap and read for quite a long time.”

Today, Josephine’s reading skills are “exciting, and a tiny bit scary” because she can read words her parents would rather she not.

“We have to be cautious about certain things,” Sara said. “She can read store signs and traffic signs.”

Sara said their daily routine involves reading with Josephine in the morning, mid-morning and after lunch. Josephine stopped napping at an early age, but Sara still wanted to devote an hour of the afternoon to “quiet time.” This is time that Josephine can do something on her own, and she usually chooses to read.

“Even on car rides, we have a bin of books next to her seat so she can reach over, grab a book and read,” Sara said. “We try to normalize books as part of our daily life.”

Josephine has fun doing lots of other things, too. She does get some screen time, but Sara said she tries to limit that to educational programs about words and language. One of their favorite programs to watch is called Storyline Online, which features celebrities like Jennifer Garner and Seth Meyers reading children’s books. Sara’s mother lives in Oregon, and oftentimes video calls with her are spent reading stories, too.

Josephine’s love of reading recently earned her the top prize in the Fairfield Public Library’s summer reading program. She logged almost 100 hours during the program’s two months, which meant she won a bicycle courtesy of Fairfield’s Clinton Lodge 15 of the Masonic Lodge.

Sara said it was the perfect prize for Josephine, who just outgrew her old bike and needed a new one.

Sara said the family has made going to the library a weekly tradition, where Josephine gets 20 new books each time, which she quickly devours. She completed the library’s “1,000 books before kindergarten” program, which she did in just nine months.

Though Josephine is reading at an advanced level, she still has a year to go before she can enroll in kindergarten because her birthday is in October. Until then, she will be at home reading, getting ready for the first day of class.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com