Build It - They'll Come

Apologies for the blogging hiatus (understatement), but now that we're in to the depths of summer, it is impossible not to be blissfully swept away into the world of children's literature yet again.  With the lists from The Storyteller's Summer Reading Club in the house, we are all surrounded by new and wonderful finds and I am reminded again that yes, there is a limit to the number of books that public libraries let you check out.

When it comes to summer reading and book borrowing, more is always better and the maxim "Everything in moderation" goes out the window for a solid three months around here.  Following the advice of children's literature aficionado Donalyn Miller (aka, The Book Whisperer), books are literally everywhere in our house and we are back to consistently listening to Books on CD in the car as well.  We've adopted one of Miller's suggestions for teachers and created a spot in the house to showcase new books for the week, and much to my surprise, even my somewhat-reluctant-to-be-second-grader-who-only-likes-sports-books has been spotted plucking a book or two from the window ledge to give them a read.

I believe Miller, if you build a culture of books, the reading will come.

Here's our current crop:

Family read aloud:  The Candymakers by Wendy Mass
Recent favorite book on CD: The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

Picture Ogler/Pre-Reader's current selection: Pete's Party by Jon Scieszka, David Shannon, David Gordon, and Loren Long
Reluctant-to-be-Second-Grader's current selection: The Journey that Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey by Louise Borden
Avid-Upper-Elementary's current selection:  No Such Thing as Dragons by Philip Reeve

Other summer dabblings that we've enjoyed:
Weird But True by National Geographic
Willoughby & the Lion by Greg E. Foley
Extra Credit by Andrew Clements

So what are you reading and loving this summer?

The Phantom is 50 and the Back-Seat Book Club

LP Reads is very excited to host our first guest blogger.  Thank you Kana Ryan for your contribution. 

When looking for a new book to read, I often look to some of my favorite authors, Barbara Kingsolver, Anne Lamott, Anna Quindlen and Jane Hamilton, just to name a few. As parents, we can help our kids make connections to authors as yet another way to encourage and excite them about reading. A couple of years ago I took my son to see Rick Riordan speak. He was on tour to launch the first book in his new series The Lost Hero – Heroes of Olympus. It was a pleasure to hear him talk about how he got the ideas for his books and to watch my son’s excitement at getting the author’s autograph on his well-loved book, The Lightning Thief. Most authors these days have websites and if they are touring their schedule will be posted there.

As another way to connect young readers to books by great authors, NPR just started the Back-Seat Book Club, a book club for kids. Each month they pick a new book, encourage kid readers to send in questions and then host a discussion with the author. 

For November, NPR picked The Phantom Tollbooth by author Norton Juster and illustrator Jules Feiffer. The timing is perfect because this year The Phantom Tollbooth is celebrating its 50 year anniversary! 

If you like The Phantom Tollbooth, perhaps you and your child will find yourselves interested in more books by Norton Juster – hint, hint “The Odious Ogre” or more books illustrated by Jules Feiffer. Who knows where your curiosity will take you -- as Milo learns -- enjoy the journey!

Light the Fire! Books on CD

If you want to build a ship, don't recruit the men to gather the wood, divide the work and give orders.  Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.

I read the above quote today by Antoine de Saint-Exupery and all I could think was, "BINGO!!!!!!!"  Yes, yes, and yes!

His thoughts echo something I recently read by Richard Lavoie in his book  The Motivation Breakthrough: 6 Secrets to Turning on the Tuned-Out Child.  Lavoie talks about the distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.  He argues that the former (systems/policies that encourage a child to earn rewards) doesn't lead to the latter (a child who is motivated from within).  He isn't opposed to "well-planned and implemented reward programs;" however, he stresses that we should be "mindful that intrinsic motivation is our long-term goal" (12).  As Saint-Exupery suggests, teach them to yearn and the rest will follow and be its own reward.

While Saint-Exupery was talking about building ships and the sea, I think his metaphor is easily applied to children and reading.  Feed their enthusiasm about the world of stories and the semantics of reading will come together, and most importantly, be fueled by their own internally generated motivation to crack the reading code.  Leave them without exposure to the wonderful world of stories and what will be left to motivate them when the going gets (or perhaps stays tough) with reading?

Let's face it, learning to read can be a painstaking process, particularly now days when our kids are doing in kindergarten what many of us were still trying to master in second grade. I remember the phonics cards ... but they certainly were not in my kindergarten class, which I think was all graham crackers, naps, songs, and the occasional fluoride treatment.

So what can we do as parents to foster a love of reading?  I hope you'll leave your ideas and best practices in the comments!

Here's one thing that seems to have worked for my kids: Books on CD.   We rarely get in the car now without someone asking, "Can we listen to the story?,"  and often times they ask before the car is even running.  We have listened to books on CD for longer car trips, but now, we listen to them pretty much everywhere we go ... baseball practice, grandma's house, the grocery store, etc.  There are a zillion reasons why reading aloud to our kids is important and worth doing (which I hope to cover in another post) but perhaps one of the most important reasons is that it shows them how entertaining and enjoyable books can be!  The hope is that this affinity will keep them in the struggle of learning to read when they are young and it will continue to inspire them to be lifelong readers once the basic skills have been mastered.

Books on CD are available at the local libraries and if you find the Moraga library selection lacking, you can always put a title on hold online at www.ccclib.org and have it delivered to the Moraga library for pick up.

For the younger kids, I can't help but recommend The BFG by Roald Dahl (as long as your kids can get through the kinda scary first part, which our 4-year old did). Natasha Richardson's rendition of the novel is hands-down-completely-laugh-out-loud-funny.  My kids are still quoting that big, friendly giant and we listened to the story months and months ago.  For the older set, I'd recommend The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.

We are currently listening to The Wayside School Collection by Louis Sachar, which was recommended by Jim Trelease in his Read Aloud Handbook (get it and be inspired!), and we've got Chocolate Fever by Robert Kimmel Smith on the docket when that finishes up.  




How about you?  What books on CD have been hits in your family?