A Magical Encounter With Reading!

I guess I’m old school. I love the smell of books and the sensation of holding one and not wanting to put it down. One of the things that make me happy is being able to carve time out of my busy schedule to immerse myself into the books of a family owned bookstore close to work. I’m always looking for pieces of world literature that not many people seem to care about anymore, but this time, I came across a book that called my attention. It is called “99 Ways to Get Kids to Love Reading” by Mary Leonhardt. It looked interesting to me as I never thought I’d come across a manual or a list of bullet points on what to do when helping kids to enjoy reading.  As strange as it sounds, to me, reading is a feeling, like the sensation when you eat the best food you’ve ever tried, and describing that sensation with accurate words becomes a challenge.  You can try, but there are things you just feel and taste, but cannot explain. Then, it occurred to me that reading is much like a recipe.  For reading to become that unexplainable sensation, a series of methodically and strategically designed and chosen steps and ingredients have to be followed  and used, so that reading can be seen as a wonderful, delicious, and magical thing.

When growing up I had the privilege to have a father who was, and still is, an avid reader and it was him who nurtured my love for reading. He never said anything to me about the importance of reading, I just saw how much fun he enjoyed reading and solving newspaper puzzles. That doesn’t mean that if your kids don’t see you reading, your children won’t be readers either, but if you want to change that pattern, there are many things you can try.

It’s obvious that in a book titled “99 Ways to Get Kids to Love Reading”, I was going to find 99 pieces of great advice. However, it will be too many items to list here, so I took the liberty to summarize or choose the best ones in my opinion.

- A love for reading is a love for learning so resolve that a love of reading will be your important educational goal, not life goal, for your children. Then, reading is one among all the activities your kids do, it can’t be the only one. Too much reading or no reading at all could be a problem.

- Don’t worry about making your children read only “good” books. Therefore, sit back and enjoy the ride as any reading counts.

- While movies can desensitize us to violence, books sensitize us, so don’t worry that books containing violence will produce violent kids. Sensitivity is one of the values that America has lost, but we can restore it in our children through reading.

- Take your children to bookstores and libraries as often as you can, and allow them to browse and buy their favorite books.

- Make read-aloud time fun for your child and eventually, have your child read out loud to you as this helps them use their creativity.

- If your children are watching lots of television and doing little reading, consider restricting television, or banning it altogether (They won’t miss out on anything anyway).

- If they request a book that you know it’s too difficult, buy it for them anyway. As long as they love the book, leave them alone. You’ll see they’ll read it no matter what.

- Be careful that you don’t schedule so many activities for your children that they have little time to read.

- It’s important that fathers spend time reading to boys, and helping them find books. Boys need to see that reading is a cool, masculine thing to do.

- Keep a supply of magazines, comics, and short books in the car. I do it myself and my child and I love it!

- Pay attention to your children’s developing reading taste and simply, supply the demand.

- Praise teachers and schools that are trying to run classrooms that nurture readers.

- Lastly, and given the world we live in, there’s nothing like the smell of a book or turning the pages of one, but if you think all your kids know is reading on ipads, tablets, or nooks, make sure they’re actually reading, not playing.

I hope this list is as helpful to you as it was for me. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or to ask for a list of books that the author or I recommend for your child’s taste and age and finally, a quote for you “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one” George R.R. Martin.