Help Your Child Fall in Love With Reading--In Just 6 Simple Steps

Help Your Child Fall in Love with Reading in Just 6 Simple Steps:

Family Book Club

Choose books that correlate with the month. Thanksgiving is just six weeks away—why not scope the library’s website for books about turkeys, history of the holiday, or gratitude? Websites like goodreads.com and scholastic.com both give parameters to adjust texts based on Lexile score or grade level, so you’ll know exactly where to start. Make the time to sit down every day as a family and read. If you have littles, reading the book along with them can be a great bonding experience. For middle and high-schoolers, just modeling reading your own books (and yes, Reese Witherspoon’s monthly pick counts) is a positive way to build routine. Schedule just half an hour of reading time into your family’s day at a time that is convenient for everyone.

Give Your Kids Buy-In

Your son loves Ninjago? Your daughter can’t get enough of the Hunger Games series? Who cares…they’re reading! Graphic novels weave in much more higher order comprehension strategies and challenge readers to pay close attention to sequencing and character development as dialogue tends to be short. For high school students, our list of 18 Articles Everyone Should Read by the Time They Turn 18 can be a fun way to work your way through this month of reading. Classics are not as typically built into today’s curriculum as they used to, so dusting off those covers may bring some surprise.

Make It Fun

Just like us girls love Book Clubs (and all the sweets and treats associated with unpacking a particular novel), so do our kids! Find out what your kids are reading and cook a themed dinner, based a region where the novel takes place (spaghetti for It’s Raining Meatballs, shrimp and grits, cornbread, or hoppin’ John to go along with Southern classics like To Kill a Mockingbird, In the Garden of Good and Evil, or tacos pair nicely with The House on Mango Street). If geographically-themed menus prove to be difficult, bake your family’s favorite dessert or if all else fails, pick up a quart of cookie dough ice cream and encourage everyone to share the highlights of their chosen books in between bites of sundaes. 

Or, pair a book with an upcoming movie (shameless teacher statement: “The book is always better than the movie!”) In theaters and coming soon that are based on books: The Grinch, The Girl in the Spider’s Web, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, The Hate U Give, Fantastic Beasts, Robin Hood, Becoming Astrid (author of Pippi Longstocking!)

Have a Read-Off

Everyone loves a little competition… See which family member can read the most books over a month—or even just over Thanksgiving break! I loved the “What We’re Reading” signs posted outside classrooms at Lovett (and even snagged a couple of ideas for my next reads: My Father and Atticus Finch by Joseph Madison Beck and The Originals by Adam Grant”). Why not bring this idea into the home? At the beginning of each month, let your kiddos know what you’re reading and have them share what’s on their nightstands, too (hello, accountability!) 

I don’t think Adam Grant can write a bad book. Everything he releases—from podcasts to books—is absolutely brilliant.

Few books have shaken me to my core than Harper Lee’s classic “To Kill a Mockingbird.” This book has offered great insight into a 1930s rape trial in Alabama that forecasted the classic novel.

Log It

Why should Summer Reading get all the attention? Every year, I have an ongoing note in the Notes app on my iPhone that lists the books I read. Organized by month, I jot down the title, author, and a quick star rating. For non-fiction books, I take the time to jot down my favorite concepts or strategies to refer back to later. Next, I rank my favorite books read each month and then each year, overall. I’ve done this for years and when a friend asks me for recommendations, all I have to do is pull up my Notes app! My other favorite note on my phone is my ever-growing Books to Read note. Gathered from recommendations I see in magazines, at the library, at Barnes and Noble, or on Social Media, I always write down the title and author of any book that seems interesting.

Always Have a Book With You

Your momma was right. Whether you’re waiting in the carpool line, Atlanta traffic, or at the doctor’s office, having a book on hand encourages the cue/reward relationship and will help instill an accessible habit of reading. When wrapped with a bow of convenience, you, too will blaze through books in no time!