Book Review: How to Get Your Child to Love Reading

How to Get Your Child to Love Reading was conceived when author Esm? Raji Codell was staring at a shriveled potato that was sprouting eyes. She wondered, " . . . if I had a potato, nothing but a potato, how could I teach a classroom full of children? Well, I could cut a potato in half. (I can use the paring knife from my own kitchen, right?) We could review fractions. With one half, I could cut a design and do potato prints. We could plant the eyes from the other half of the potato (it can have eyes, right?) and grow more potatoes, charting their growth." The ideas cascade: writing a story about a potato, making a book of potato recipes or potato poems, making potato stamps of all the letters, teaching reading, getting books from the library about potatoes, talking about the Irish potato famine, writing letters to executives about potato chips or Mr. Potato Head.

The preceding excerpt illustrates the boundless creativity of Esm? Raji Codell. On this first page she establishes the metaphor that recurs throughout How to Get Your Child to Love Reading: "Children's literature is our national potato." It is the seed that, through its many shoots, can help our children become caring, educated citizens.

Although the cover dubs How to Get Your Child to Love Reading a "Parent's Guide," this book is a treasure trove for teachers, librarians, grandparents, anyone who cares about children and books. It provides "activities, ideas, and inspiration for exploring everything in the world through books." It is a valuable resource for nourishing juvenile readers, both the reluctant and the ravenous.

How to Get Your Child to Love Reading includes over 3,000 titles recommended for children from birth through eighth grade. However, it doesn't stop with mere recommendations. As Esm? says, "This book is a recipe book for children's literature: how to serve it up so it's delicious and varied."

After a section on reading with "the littlest bambinos," How to Get Your Child to Love Reading is organized by subject matter: social studies, math and science, story books, etc. Esm? subdivides the broad categories, however, so that book lists have very specific headings. She offers books for specific seasons, for special occasions (such as the arrival of a sibling or the loss of a tooth), for dealing with everyday problems (tattling or the hiccups).

Because the categories are so specific, many books are listed simply by title and author. That is sufficient. Sometimes Esm? adds just a word or two of description. For example, in the math section the note "place value" beside the title The King's Commissioners is extremely elucidating. For some books Esm? provides sentence summaries. For others she provides more information, even excerpts. She provides just enough information to whet our appetites.

But How to Get Your Child to Love Reading has so much more! Esm?'s wisdom and revelry shine through on every page. Esm? includes dozens of articles, some on controversial subjects (for example, should reading be rewarded?). She has recurring features honoring "reading heroes" and addressing questions about various aspects of reading. She provides a list of benefits of reading aloud, a "Happy Childhood Checklist," a list of "Must-Reads by the Time You're Thirteen," six pages of story starters. She offers suggestions for integrating literature with life, often in celebration -- a parade of books, a storytelling festival, an unbirthday party. She recommends additional resources, many of them on the Internet.

Appendices and indices round out How to Get Your Child to Love Reading. The appendices include Newbery and Caldecott Award honorees as well as winners. Information about a specific book is easy to find since the books are triply indexed -- by title, author, and subject.

I am thrilled to have discovered Esm? Raji Codell. She is indeed an exuberant, eloquent young voice for promoting literacy through children's literature. How to Get Your Child to Love Reading may well offer the best hope for stemming the current tide of illiteracy.

A parent and former teacher, Fran Hamilton is the author of Hands-On English, now in its second edition. Hands-On English gives quick access to English fundamentals and makes grammar visual by using icons to represent parts of speech. The book is for anyone 9 years or older, including adults. Fran also publishes companion products to Hands-On English and free e-mail newsletters: LinguaPhile, published monthly, is for people who teach and/or enjoy English; Acu-Write, published weekly, addresses common errors in English. For more information, visit http://www.GrammarAndMore.com.

---

Children?s Birthday Party Planning: When and When Not to Have a Big Party

Age 1: Invite only family members and close friends only because this birthday is more for the parents than for the child. At age 1, a child doesn't understand the concept of "Birthday... Read More

Three Sure-Fire Ways to Teach Your Child About Safety

Levels of SafetyBy teaching our children there are different levels of safety and those levels depend on the situation they are in and the decisions they make in those situations, we can better... Read More

What You Can Learn About Life From Your Children

You can learn a lot from children.The best part of all is the advice is priceless.Walls looked so much better when they are decorated with artwork. Markers and crayons work best.The living room... Read More

Children Cooperate When Appreciated

Do you want your child to cooperate with you more?Children are much more likely to cooperate with adults who like being with them and who let them know they are worthwhile. This builds... Read More

Simple Living in a Materialistic World

We were sitting in the family room. My kids had finished their first day back at school after the holiday break, and my wife was working late. Michael, my six-year-old son, was finger... Read More

Authoritarian Parenting, Permissive Parenting, or Loving Parenting

Angie was brought up by rigid, authoritarian parents who kept her on a tight leash. They rarely considered her feelings about anything, showing a complete lack of empathy and compassion for her feelings... Read More

How Children Can Read Faster and Better

For most children, it is easy to learn to read faster. Their reading rate is often a matter of habit. But to begin, you may need to help them change some of their... Read More

Promote Physical Fitness for Your Child

If your child is to derive the benefits of physical fitness, then physical activity must be habitual and lifelong. Moving should be as routine as brushing teeth and bathing. But this is only... Read More

Homework Help for the Attention Deficit Child

Does the homework battle so typical with your hyperactive or A.D.D. child have you at the end of your rope? Relax. We have some tried-and-try ADHD information that should get your A.D.D. child... Read More

Power Foods for a Powerful School Lunch

There isn't a school day that goes by that I worry about my son's lunch. Of course, I ask myself the usual questions: Is he eating what he has in the bag? Will... Read More

Fun Things to Do with Your Kids this Summer

10 Fun Things You Can Do With Your Children this Summer that Won't Break the BankFor a family with small children like my own, a big family vacation in the summer isn't always... Read More

Theres Never a Bad Time To Start Helping To Spread The Word of God

Q. What's the right age to start giving a Bible quiz to my child?A. The moment that she is able to recognize pictures or symbols. It's never too soon to start teaching a... Read More

Breastfeed a Toddler - Why?

Is your baby approaching his or her first birthday and you're considering weaning?The American Academy of Pediatrics currently recommends that "breastfeeding continue for at least 12 months, and thereafter for as long as... Read More

Top Three Reasons To Get Involved At Your Childs School

You may think once your child has gone off to school full-time (officially a First-Grader) that he/she no longer needs you... You could not be more wrong... Just consider the following three benefits... Read More

10 Tips for Making Daily Physical Activity Part of Your Childs Life!

Here's some of the bad news about sedentary lifestyles:? Forty percent of children ages 5 to 8 show at least one heart disease risk factor, including hypertension and obesity, which among children has... Read More

Parenting Your Teenager: 4 Traps to Avoid

4 traps to avoidTrap 1 - Parents need to realize the trap that is being set when your kids ask,"Well, why can't I (fill in the blank)?"Many well-intentioned parents then proceed to give... Read More

Puberty - Get Ready to Play the Puberty Game

Puberty can be a difficult time for children. Not quite kids anymore and not really adolescents they are caught in the middle in type of limbo. It is a sad time for many... Read More

Top 5 Characteristics of Good Leadership to Instill in Our Home School Children

I am sure that this list can be jogged and added and taken away or all of the above, after being in the presence of several true leaders these are the ones that... Read More

Saying No To Our Children

Saying no to our children is not always easy or pleasant. Sometimes it is very hard work and we don't want to face the struggle. Most of us at some time will find... Read More

Life Stuck In Fast Forward

the woes of being a parent of an ADHD child.....Like Curious George discovering new things and fiddling with the old, you go through life. Taking things apart and scattering the pieces here and... Read More

Bring On The Music To Help Your Child Learn Faster And More Effectively

Do you remember how you first learned the alphabet? I am quite sure that the majority of us learnt it by singing the ABC Song: 'ABCDEFG-HIJKLMNOP-QRS-TUV-WXY-and-Z...'There is no doubt that music and songs... Read More

Discipline on My Mind

I look out of the window as I am writing this. It is home time and mums are collecting their children from the local primary school. I see and hear harassed mums shouting... Read More

How To Live With Your Teenagers Untidy Room

'Whose room is it anyway?'If you have a teenager, you're no doubt familiar with the warcry of independence:'It's my room and I should be allowed to do as I please.'You hear the aggrieved... Read More

When A Parent Is Deployed

When a parent is deployed with the military it can be very traumatic for the children left behind. Having things for them to do, that makes them feel a part of the family... Read More

When Time Out Dont Work

Joey steps away from his time out chair "I won't sit!" His mother is frustrated and throws her hands in the air..Time out is just not working for this mom. Many kids do... Read More

Four Tips For Alleviating Back To School Anxiety

Back to school preparations are in full-swing. Soon, the first bell of the year will ring and the sounds of summer will be replaced by the voices of school-aged children bemoaning the end... Read More

The Metamorphosis of The Brain: Raising Your child to be a Brainiac

The human brain never actually stops developing. Beginning formation in early prenatal life (just 3 weeks after conception), the brain's development is a lifelong endevour, endlessly under construction, constantly reshaping and redefining itself... Read More

Should Your Child Watch TV News? Surprising Opinions of Top Anchors

KIDS AND THE NEWSMore than ever, children witness innumerable, sometimes traumatizing, news events on TV. It seems that violent crime and bad news is unabating. Foreign wars, natural disasters, terrorism, murders, incidents of... Read More

Where Will YOUR Kids Get A Job?

Let's face it.The job market is getting tougher every day.Computerization is making many jobs redundant.The Internet and modern telecommunications have allowed companies to outsource jobs to third-world countries where wage costs are much... Read More