Getting Kids Pumped-Up to Read

GETTING KIDS PUMPED-UP TO READ

As a children’s book author, I’m always thinking of ways to get children interested in reading, so whenever I happen upon great ideas from others, I am thrilled. 

My own plan is to offer Reading Contests and perhaps a Book Scavenger Hunt during the upcoming months.  Hopefully, children will have fun with these two activities, so stay tuned for what’s to come. I’ll be sure to keep you posted, and hopefully your children engaged.

To me, reading makes the world go round-and-round as it connects us to every other subject matter there is such as English, Biology, Social Studies, and yes, even Math, to name a select few.  I  believe reading is at the core of everything that we do.

There are times however, that some children are just not exposed to reading, and they are not to blame, so when people become clever finding ways to help children connect to books, it makes my heart sing.

'LITTLE FREE LIBRARIES'

I recall my daughter coming home from school one afternoon sharing with me a Reading passage that caught her attention from her state mandated STAAR exam, titled: Little Free Libraries, but it wasn’t until recently (last week in fact), when we were traveling through a street in a Houston Heights neighborhood, that she excitedly pointed at this beautifully adorn-mainly bright yellow-colored wooden fixture that was mounted on a wooden post just in front of a home sitting on a corner lot. My kid was driving that day, so at my request she turned the car around, so that I could marvel at the fixture with her, as she continued to share and remind me of the passage she'd read.

I asked my daughter what she thought about me adding a couple of my children's books to the ones already in the library box (I'm so happy I keep extras in my trunk), and she consented it would probably be okay, so she  popped open the trunk, and I pulled out six of my books (2 sets of 3) adding them to the wonderful collection of books already neatly stacked inside.

It made my day complete donating to the Little Free Library located in the Houston Heights.  I'm not sure how often the children come to this box, but I hope they'll notice 3 new books, and enjoy reading them. Perhaps I'll hear from one or two of them one day.

I plan on revisiting that site adding more of my books each time I have one published, and I hope to share this exciting new venture with my daughter who took these photos for me. I want to make this an expressed goal of mine. Isn’t the little library beautiful? And, what a wonderful idea!

PARENTS TAKING CHARGE

Parents can give children the gift of reading making it magical -- and here’s how: 

·         Children must see parents interested in reading 

·         Parents should read to their children often

·         Parents can share Reading time with their children 

         * read every other page, or

         * every other chapter, or

         * every other paragraph

·         Parents can role-model reading with enthusiasm

·         Parents can read using inflection in their voices

·         Parents can ask questions about paragraphs, or main points of the story

·         Parents can create (build) home libraries

·         And yes, even creative ideas such as the Little Free Libraries

THE GOOD OLD DAYS

Hey, does anyone remember mobile libraries? I do! But, again that was the days of old, and yes, I’m ‘dating’ myself back to ‘the good 'ole' days.’  





Learn more about 'Little Free Libraries' and how it all got started at: 
http://wuwm.com/post/take-book-return-book-growth-little-free-library#stream/0