GETTING
KIDS 2 READ
Welcome! The
purpose of this webpage is not to help you force your kids to read.
Rather the purpose is to help you encourage their innate curiosity in a way that
makes them lovers of the word. My only expertise is that of a lifelong lover of
books with two teenagers who also love to read. If your children are already
readers, I provide some tips and links to help you find books to keep them
reading, and one of those tips of course is ask a librarian, which
requires the least time and effort on your part. The last section includes a
list of adult and young adult books our family has recently enjoyed. I hope you
find this site useful.
Purchasing
Books Inexpensively
- Start reading aloud to
your kids early! Some people believe in reading stories to kids in utero.
Personally, I started reading picture books to mine at about 4 months. Anytime
of the day is good, but if you particularly make it a point to read before
bed, I think that you will find your kids enjoy the ritual, and are relaxed
and ready to go to sleep when you finish a story or two.
- Point to the words as
you read them. Talk about the pictures.
- Read aloud things other
than books: newspapers, text on the computer, lables, ingredients, billboards,
etc.
- Let your kids see you
reading for enjoyment yourself.
- Make the library a fun
destination. Start attending story hours, puppet shows, and other fun events
that your local library offers as soon as you think your child will find at
least five-minutes-worth interesting. Leave the area or the library when the
child's attention wanders, or if they begin disturbing others. Start slow and
work up. Eventually your child will enjoy whole programs
- Look beyond the library
as well. There is a storytellers guild in my area
that sponsers readings at museums and bookstores. Check out storynet.org for help finding
one in your area. The site also provides links to good library sites.
- At first choose books
that have text and pictures you really like. Your enjoyment of the story will
be apparent to your children, and they will enjoy it too.
- As your child develops
interests (trucks, dinosaurs, balloons, whatever) find books about those
interests.
- You will find that at
some point your child will want to take part in choosing books to check out of
the library, and to read at home at storytime. Let them!
- Your child will develop
some favorite books. Consider buying them to have at home. For ideas on doing
this inexpesively see section
three.
Use the
suggested sources in this section to locate books which will appeal to your
child's age and interests. If you think they are too locked into one kind of
book, try to find one of their interests in a different genre. Here's an
example: Your teen is only reading Stephen King and other horror books. Give
them a copy of On Writing by Stephen King. They may be interested enough
in the author to read this very good book detailing his experience writing and
publishing books. Then at the back of the book, King lists books that he has
recently enjoyed. The list includes a wide variety of great books. Your teen
might read some of them based on his recommendation. Other
ideas:
- Visit all the public
libraries that are a reasonable driving distance from your home. Check out the
children and youth librarians and ask them for recommendations for your child.
Be prepared to assist them with a list of your child's interests and books
that she has enjoyed. You can no doubt pick up preprinted age-based lists they
have on hand as well.
- Check out the websites
of your local libraries and some others around the Web. Storynet.org suggests some good
library sites. Check out any book lists. Look for good programs. Attend some.
For example, in my area one public libary has a parent/kid monthly book group.
- One of library systems I
use has book lists by age and other catagories on this page: kcls.org/goodreads.
- The
- If you have a book your
child liked and are looking for similar ones, plug in the title at amazon.com as if you want to
purchase it. Their software will give you similar titles and possibly favorites lists of other kids who like that book. I'm
hoping libraries soon begin to have similar features on their websites.
- Look at journal
publications. One I like is School Library Journal. Every month there
are reviews of fiction and non-fiction books by age with enough summary
information to decide if the book is something your child will like.
- Look for books to help.
Here are some suggestions:
Junior Genreflecting by B.D. Voltz, 2000
Teen Genreflecting by D.T. Herald, 1997
What Else Should I Read? by M. Berman, 1995
Great Books for Girls by K. Odean, 1997
Great Books for Boys by K. Odean, 1998
You can find books of this type by just going to the 027. or 028. dewey decimal sections in your library, either in the regular sections or in reference. One of my libaries has a special bookshelf for this kind of books near the reference desk.
Purchasing
Books Inexpensively
The
library is a great resource, but it's also a good idea to let your child own some of their favorite books. To keep the cost
down try some of these ideas:
- The library and Friends
of the Library have occasional used book sales. They are a great source of
used books, and you ard supporting a good cause at the same time!
- Find bookstores that
sell used books in your area. My favorite in
- Find used booksellers
online. My favorite is Half.com.
At this site you are buying from indiviual sellers. I have never had a
problem, but chose highly rated ones to be safe. If you want a specific
edition, be careful. It's best to search by ISBN number. Incidentally, I
haven't had luck selling on this site. My books never get posted on the
inventory. If you figure it out, let me know. And yes I've tried the help desk
- no help!
- Order through the
Scholastic or Troll Book Clubs that are probably offered at your child's
preschool or school. These clubs are set up for school classrooms and
libraries, but you can join yourself as a homeschool teacher (you teach your
kids don't you?). Most of the books are paperbacks, you have to order at least
$15 at a time, your mailbox fills with catalogues, and only certain books are
offered each month. That said, you can get a lot for very little money, and
you pay no postage either. Scholastic's number is 1-800-SCHOLASTIC (724-6527).
Specify your kid's reading level to get the right club and cut down on mail.
For now
the books in this section are the ones my kids and I have read recently. Hence
they are either teen or adult books for good readers. If you revisit the site
sometime in the future, you will hopefully find that I have added books that
were favorites when my kids were younger, and have included brief summaries for
each one. For now, know that (in my opinion) the books listed here are well
written, sometimes incredibly so, often funny, at least at times, and have
believable characters with interesting stories. A few are actually non-fiction -
noted (nf).
For
Aspiring Writers, Teen or Adult
- Keyes, D. (1999)
Algernon, Charlie, and I (nf)
- King, S. (2000) On
Writing: a Memoir of the Craft (nf)
For Teens
(and Well Worth Reading for Adults as Well)
- Brooks, M (2000) Being
with Henry
- Chevalier, T. (2000)
Girl With a
- Cushman, K. (2000)
Matilda Bone
- Demers, B. (1999)
Willa's
- Dessen, S (1999) Keeping
the Moon
- Freymann-Weyr, G. (2000)
When I Was Older
- Fuqua, J. (1998) The
Reappearance of Sam Webber
- Konigsburg, E. (2000)
Silent to the Bone
- Goodman, J. (1996) The
Winter Hare
- Nolan, H. (1997) Dancing
on the Edge
- Orr, W. (1996) Peeling
the Onion
- Randle, K. (1995) The
Only Alien on the Planet
- Whelan, G. (2000)
Homeless Bird
For
Adults
- Atkinson, K. (1996)
Behind the Scenes at the Museum
- Diamant, A. (1997) The
Red Tent
- Grost, A. (1970) Genius
in Residence (nf)
- Haruf, K. (1999)
Plainsong
- Karr, M. (1995) Liars'
Club (nf)
- Lippi, R. (1998)
- Stolz, K. (2000) World
of Pies
I designed
and wrote this website in January 2002 to fulfill a graduate school assignment
at 
Your ideas
or comments!
This page
Copyright © 2002 Kathryn Pierce