Most family and friends are familiar with Patrick's love for reading anything and everything he can get his hands on. I recently asked my friend Heather for suggestions on a good introduction to chapter books. Her recommendation, My Father's Dragon, was a huge hit. Patrick and I read four chapters the first night together, but I wasn't really sure what he thought about he story or chapter book concept. Apparently he loved it since he read three more chapters himself the next day without me. We finished the book together that night and he's shared it with everyone he's talked to since!
I've noticed lately that his passion for reading is contagious - Marcelena loves to read her books too! Well, for her, "reading" is really about looking at the books and reciting what she's memorized from her favorite books, like Fancy Nancy, that we read so often! She thinks she's reading, so don't tell her any different please.
So I've been thinking of our little book lovers and wonder what we did to get so lucky. We've always had books in the house - a lot - and made reading or storytelling a part of our daily routine since they were newborns. We're pretty fortunate, we know, and understand that a lot of families have a really hard time squeezing daily reading into an already crazy day. We also know that books aren't cheap and going to the library can be a bit overwhelming.
Well, there's a program in Oregon called SMART (Start Making A Reader Today) that helps young children build literacy skills and they do incredible work in the local communities. Patrick and I started talking tonight about what we can do to help spread our love for reading and agreed to figure out how we can get involved with SMART. Of course, they love donations that help put books in the homes, but you can also volunteer to read - something we already enjoy doing! He liked that idea.
Slight detour...I've never told him this, but Justin is a wonderful reader with the children - he brings the story to life with his spoken word. I love listening to him read to them and hope that he'll take this one on with Patrick!
For now, we're going to gather our gently-loved books that we want to share with others and bring them to The Book Corner where they'll sell them and use the money to support our local library. And we're going to research how we can get involved with SMART. It was also suggested by another friend that we look into ways that Patrick can directly share his love for reading with other children by reading to them. Maybe provide some inspiration to other little ones.
Tell us, what do you do with your books? What ideas do you have to share?
I grew up in a house full of books. I think that watching my parents read really reinforced my love of books. Growing up, we had an old tv that barely got any channels and what we did get was incredibly fuzzy. There was no Discovery or History Channel. I think we got 3-4 channels at best.
Each Saturday my mom would take us to the library and she would encourage us to read anything. Seriously my parents did not censor anything we read. (They did however censor movies and music) I think its important to encourage kids to read but also think it reinforces that message when they see adults enjoying a good book too.
Posted by: Aleta | February 27, 2009 at 08:43 AM