The Guide
Raising readers.
How to raise children who reach for books on their own.
Reviewed by Jerrica Sannes, M.Ed. on
Children who love reading were almost always read to past the age it stopped feeling necessary. The handoff from 'parent reads to me' to 'I reach for a book' is gradual, and it doesn't happen by accident.
This guide pulls together the picture books we return to year after year, the rhythms that protect read-aloud time when life gets loud, and the gentle test for whether a book is worth the shelf space.
The shorthand.
- Pick books that the parent also wants to re-read. The child reads the parent's face, not the page.
- Same book, same time, same chair beats novelty almost every week of the year.
- Stop reading aloud later than you think. Eight, ten, twelve — keep going.