IF THERE WERE A SUREFIRE WAY TO HELP KIDS BECOME MORE LITERATE, WOULD YOU IGNORE IT? Free voluntary reading, or reading because you want to, is the kind of recreational reading that most mature readers do most every day. In schools, this approach is often called sustained silent reading, or SSR. Although some educators and parents think that students who read for pleasure are "merely enjoying themselves," there's a huge amount of research that supports the importance of free voluntary reading. In fact, research strongly suggests that free reading is the source of our reading prowess and much of our vocabulary and spelling development, as well as our ability to understand sophisticated phrases and write coherent prose. The secret of its effectiveness is simple: children become better readers by reading.
Excerpts from “Free Reading” by Stephen Krashen School Library Journal, 2006.

Simply put, what Mr. Krashen is saying is that reading works to improve reading skills. Shocking, isn’t it? Of course it isn’t. But for some reason many parents feel that there is some secret skill or trick that they (or their school) has failed to give their child which results in lackluster reading performance, reading reluctance, or downright hatred for reading. Not to oversimplify, as I know that there are a multitude of problems that contribute to the dismal statistics on kids and reading, but I do think parents and kids ought to give the simplest solution a try—reading for a little while everyday.

As a library student, booklover, and mother of an 8 year old son, I have decided to start this blog as a way to give parents some insights into books that may appeal to their children. After all, reading a little every day should be pleasurable and half the battle to get children reading deals with savvy book selection. (The importance of parents’ roles in this cannot be overemphasized—see the 2008 Scholastic Reading Report @ http://www.scholastic.com/aboutscholastic/news/readingreport.htm for some sobering statistics).

This blog will be about books—children’s books. I wrote a bit more today so you will understand my perspective and purpose. I am also doing this for myself as a way of remembering the many books I read. If there is a specific book, subject, genre or author you are interested in, please ask. I will do my best to get you some usable information.

Unlike most of my journeys I am not sure where this will end, or even what route it will take, but it is my hope to make books a bit more accessible to kids in the process.