Reading Handbooks

It was 1989 and I was about to become a first time mom.
there are so many questions when your due date is just a few weeks away.  Fortunately, I attended a workshop about reading to your children.  At this workshop, I was introduced to the book The New Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease.   This was the second edition of his book.  I loved it and immediately made a commitment to my unborn daughter that I would read aloud to her everyday of her life.  I managed to do that until about age 10, she then wanted to read on her own.  She loved reading, in fact, books were her favorite "toys".  My son, on the other hand, didn't enjoy reading aloud with me, but he did love library reading times and I did read to him as much as possible.  This book is a great starting point for parents and I highly recommend it as a resource to find quality books that you can enjoy with your children.  




Recently, I have absolutely loved reading the books The Book Whisperer and Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller.  Donalyn is a teacher and her books are full of reading ideas for teachers but her ideas can be used by parents too.   She firmly believes in teaching children to enjoy, even love, books and reading.  She encourages young readers to find the book that is just right for them and he/she will learn to enjoy reading.  Her opinion is that parents and educators cannot force a child to love the same books that they do.  They have to allow them to find what books the children love.  In her classroom, Donalyn makes books available to her students. She shares what the books are about and just leaves them out for students to read.  She encourages book talks, which expose her students to so many different genres.  This enables the students to discover for themselves books they will treasure.

What better dinner conversation can you have with your family than what books you have enjoyed and then make those books available to your children?  You can have your children share what they like to read and maybe you'll discover another great book you like too.  The important thing is to share and make available a variety of reading materials to your children.

Happy Daily Reading
Deanna