I love to read and I want my children to be fluent readers and lovers of books...
-- Peg

So how do we get kids to read?

Read with them!

That’s right. Put aside Zane, Dickey, Monroe, and Morrison and pick up a kids book by Laura Numeroff, Ezra Jack Keats, Karen Beaumont, Joanna Cole, and, of course, J. K. Rowling.

Really, when was the last time you read a Dr. Seuss book and actually heard a Who beckoning? Have you read about Eric Carle’s hungry caterpillar’s big-a appetite? What about his grouchy ladybug’s bad days or mixed-up chameleon’s search for self-acceptance? Have you ever read The Three Pigs and compared them to your life? Have you ever taken a picture walk through a book, letting the pictures tell the story, making predictions about the outcomes in the story, then being pleasantly surprised when the story turns out exactly the way you predicted? Never?! Well then you’ve never read a book with a kid! How do you expect a kid to read if you’ve never read a book with him?

If you’ve never read a book with a kid, you’ve not become acquainted with Junie B. Jones (Barbara Park), the 6-year-old princess of shameless behavior, who takes on a life of her own as you read cringingly through her grammatical errors and sassy backtalk. What a great opportunity to teach a kid to learn the proper way to talk! And you probably know not of niño gatito Skippyjon Jones (Judy Schachner) and his many Chihuahua amigos, Los Chimichangos, whose travels are as brilliant and exciting to your imagination as they are to a kid’s. And reading el Skippito’s spirited adventures can make you sound just like an adulto Speedy Gonzales! ¡Ándale! ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba!

Of course if you’ve never read with a child, you’ve probably never tried to turn down Mo William’s pigeon’s attempts to drive the bus or stay up late. And you’ve probably never figured out how dinosaurs eat their food, say goodnight, clean their rooms, or play with their friends (Jane Yolen). If you’ve never read with a child you have no idea where the wild things are (Maurice Sendak), why mosquitoes buzz in people’s ears (Verna Aardema), or how Chrysanthemum (Kevin Henkes) solved the problem of her name. If you’ve never read with a kid, you’ve never had the chance to creatively drive home some great big point about fine living and even greater character message while making up funny voices and faces to fit each character in a book.

You may remember Judy Blume’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing or Beverly Cleary’s Ramona from your days as a kid. They’re still popular; read them with a kid. Kids will probably turn you on to Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Mary Pope Osborne’s Magic Tree House Series where adventure and history mesh. You may even get pulled into the Spiderwick Chronicles, tales of elves and trolls and goblins, if you like that kind of stuff. Better yet, you may want to find out what girls and boys really want to know by reading The Big Book of Girl Stuff, which’ll teach you how to make friendship bracelets, handle crushes, and have the perfect sleepover, and The Big Book of Boy Stuff where you’ll get solid info about playing practical jokes, getting beans out of your nose, and figuring out what that smell is.

Reg Weaver, President of the National Education Association, said “you’re never too wacky or wild to pick up a book and read to a child.” Reading with a kid is your chance to be as free and foolish as you wish, and there are a busload of books and babies whose paths need to cross. Reading increases a child’s literacy skills and gives you an opportunity to escape the reality of your everyday business. So, if you want a kid to read, for just a little while – 30 minutes a day max – with your own child or a borrowed one, read with them and they’ll quickly pick up the habit.

Sadiqqa © 2008