I have never eaten kangaroo. I have tried other “exotic” foods like emu, ostrich and alligator and they were very good. There is even a local restaurant that has kangaroo on the menu. If they served it without the mushrooms, I would be more likely to try it.

Let me tell you how I learned about “Kangaroo Stew” and why it makes me smile. There is about fifteen minutes between the Sunday School time and the worship service at Church. The Church I attend has a small library at the back of the sanctuary. One Sunday morning one of the little girls, age 3, asked me to read her the book, “Kangaroo Stew” by Norman Bridwell. It’s the story of a brother and sister who offer to make dinner for the family and dad suggests kangaroo stew. The children try various ways to get kangaroo but end up with four live kangaroos who help them make a stew for the famly supper. After reading the book, the girl’s older sister, age 5, asked me to read it to her.

Over the past two months, I’ve read “Kangaroo Stew” about eight times. If you are around young children, you know they can hear the same story over and over without tiring of it.  I am not sure what makes me smile more, reading a funny story or having a child ask me to read to them. I am leaning toward the latter.

I think next time I may ask the girls to read the story to me. Even if they cannot read the words, they can tell me the story based on the pictures. Plus they have probably picked up a lot of the story by hearing it so many times.

When was the last time you read a story to a child? What story was it?