Tags
Top 10 Ways to Raise a Member of the Nerdy Book Club
My childhood membership into the Nerdy Book Club mirrors many of the stories previously shared. I was always the kid with her nose in a book and when told to go outside and play, I covertly snuck a book outside to read. I am convinced my poor eyesight is a result of many late nights reading a book under the covers with a flashlight. Trips to my local public library branch were frequent, and finally being allowed to walk there by myself felt like a major achievement. Now as an elementary librarian, I am as big of a book nerd as ever. I am also the mother of three daughters, aged nine, six and four. I am highly motivated to pass along my love of reading and have each become a member of the Nerdy Book Club as well. In the days of Netflix, Nintendo Wii, Poptropica and iPads (which my middle daughter inexplicably calls a “mattress”), how does one make this happen?
- Read aloud to them every day. Start when they are babies. My mother-in-law bought me The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh when my oldest daughter was a newborn, which I would read to her even though she had no concept of what I was reading. Thus began a rich story time tradition. If your little one will not sit still, read while he/she plays or colors. Pick things that are age appropriate in topic and length; most two year olds are not going to sit through The Polar Express. I’ve also found that bedtime is not always the best time to read. Read when it is convenient for you; that you’re doing it at all is what matters.
- When it comes to story time, Christmas can be celebrated any day of the year. Ditto Halloween, Easter and Valentine’s Day. Children are fond of holidays and will not restrict holiday books to the day, week or month they are celebrated. So when your daughter brings you, Olivia Helps with Christmas in March, read it and suppress the urge to groan and roll your eyes.
- Tolerate books that feature movie/TV characters. We had our book fair recently. I always purchase a book for each of my children that I have chosen as well as let them choose one. Inevitably, Christine, age 4, chose a book that featured Disney princesses and Charlotte, age 6, picked a book that featured perhaps my least favorite TV character of all time, SpongeBob. These books are far from what I consider to be high quality children’s literature, but the girls loved them. If your child only wants to read these types of books and you’re ready to bang your head against the wall, bargain with them, “I choose a book and you choose a book.”
- Surround your children with books. What do holidays mean to me, aside from religious significance and time spent with family? An opportunity to give books! My children receive a book for Christmas, their birthdays, Valentine’s Day and Easter. I take advantage of book fairs and the Scholastic classroom book clubs. We go to the library at least once a week in the summer time and twice a month during the school year. To expose them to books they wouldn’t choose, I sometimes make my trips to the library without them. The excitement of a new book always brings happiness, and my choices are usually eagerly accepted.
- Accept that sometimes your child may damage or lose a book. Teaching children how to take care of books is a learning process. Little fingers turn pages too quickly and sometimes children lose books. Start talks about how we take care of books and the special care we take of library books early on. Still, your child may damage or lose a book and if it belongs to the library, you’ll have to pay for it. It is frustrating, and you may be tempted to tell the child responsible that they can’t check out anymore books. However, when this happened in my family, I realized that instead of restricting access, I needed to improve my monitoring and tracking. I found a “home” for all library books and that has greatly reduced our frantic search for missing books.
- Suffer through those early grade read-alouds. I remember when my oldest daughter was in first grade. She had been introduced to Junie B. Jones by her teacher and fell in love. She wasn’t a poor reader, but I didn’t think she could read Junie B. and offered to read it to her. No, SHE wanted to read it. In the end we compromised; she’d read a paragraph and I would read a paragraph. Listening to her read those paragraphs was painful with a capital P and often we would only get through 4-5 pages in one setting. Beginning readers need to practice their reading and they need a patient person to torture listen. Eventually, something clicked and she could read Junie B. fluently. I cannot remember when I learned how to read, but I will always remember when Carolyn learned how.
- Picture books are for everyone. Like many elementary school librarians, I changed the picture book section of my library from Easy Fiction to Everyone. It has actually made a huge difference in the upper grade students’ perception of picture books as “baby books.” Regardless of age, I defy anyone to read Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s Spoon and not crack a smile. Picture books are delightful and I think parents and teachers alike should be encouraging students in upper elementary, middle and high school grades to read them.
- Make reading a privilege, not a chore. I have a confession to make: sometimes I manipulate my children into doing what I want them to do. I changed my oldest daughter’s bedtime to 30 minutes later, but required that she read during that time. Members of the Nerdy Book Club read because they find it a pleasure. Be creative in finding ways to make reading a special time for your child.
- Your childhood reading choices are not relevant to your child. I remember having the feeling, “Yes! My child can read! Now I can share all of my favorite books with her.” Books like Charlotte’s Web, A Wrinkle in Time, Chronicles of Narnia, Anne of Green Gables, and Beverly Cleary’s Ramona books. I dug out my worn copy of Ramona Quimby, Age 8 to share with Carolyn only to be told, “No thank you.” My heart was broken. However, I’ve gotten over it. Especially when I recall my Babysitter’s Club and Sweet Valley High collections. Do not degrade your child’s reading choices because they do not fit into your idea of high quality literature. Like practically every elementary child I’ve ever known, Carolyn loves A Diary of a Wimpy Kid (I’ve read them all and they are hilarious). She also is in the midst of a Magic Tree House obsession, although these books fall on the spectrum of far too easy for her. Sometimes we sit and look at the online catalog together and I can guide her to picking other books. Such was the case when she chose Falling In by Frances O’Roark Dowell, which she read and loved. She may never read a book with the shiny Newbery medal on it and that’s okay.
- Model being a book nerd. If you told my children their mom was a book nerd, they would nod in agreement. In my room they can see overfilled bookshelves and stacks of books on the floor. When I go to the library, they see me check out nine or ten books at a time. Most importantly, they see me reading, constantly. I am seldom without a book (or my Kindle) in my hand. My house might not be the cleanest in the world, but my kids can say for sure their mom is a member of the Nerdy Book Club, and hopefully one day, they will say that they are too.
Sara Ralph has been a member of the Nerdy Book Club for as long as she can remember. She has been an elementary school librarian in Asheboro, NC for the past nine years. She became a librarian because she loves books, even after being told on the first day of library school that loving books was not a good enough reason to become a librarian. Out of her three daughters, one is already a member of the Nerdy Book Club. One down and two to go!
Pingback: Raising a life-long reader | The Ludic Reader
What great suggestions! They certainly apply to teachers as well as to parents. I have one daughter that I am proudly raising to be a member of the Nerdy Book Club. I can remember crawling around the floor to read to her when she just wouldn’t sit still for a story. I was going to get reading in some how, some way. Now that she is in middle school, the biggest threat we can give is to take away the book she is reading! I’ve also learned that the surest way to get her to avoid a book is to rave over it. I have to restrain my excitement and let her discover it for herself.
Bravo! Bravo!
This should be issued to parents in every maternity ward, pediatrician’s office, etc., etc.
Tip #7 is my favorite- “Picture books are for everyone… Everyone… It has actually made a huge difference in the upper grade students’ perception of picture books as “baby books.” … Picture books are delightful and I think parents and teachers alike should be encouraging students in upper elementary, middle and high school grades to read them.” And I’d add comics and graphics to that suggestion!
Sara,
Great list! So much good can be had for a family who follows this roadmap. On #3, when my son was is 4th grade, he brought home a biography on Osama bin Laden. His sisters gave him so much grief, but he held his ground and became more determined to the book. Now, with a 22 year old and 18 year old twins, they all read. We take up as much book space as clothes space on our vacation.
This was a wonderful post. I was raised as a member of the Nerdy Book Club, but until now I probably couldn’t have verbalized all of these steps that my parents took in raising me and my siblings. As a someday-parent, I appreciate your work in putting this together. Now, I have something to pass along to my husband that he’ll enjoy reading (rather than all my KidLit research). Thanks! 🙂
Terrific post! Number 5, “Accept that sometimes your child may damage or lose a book” is so important. My heart broke earlier this year when, at a parent-teacher conference night, I overheard a parent telling a kid to never borrow another book from the school library or a teacher’s classroom library, because he had lost a book and couldn’t be trusted.
Oh this so hits home…I kept nodding as I read through your post. And I was just sitting with my 5 yr old niece recently working through a simple early reader. We were doing the “I read a page, you read a page” and still it was taking forever. I know she will survive this just like her older sister (definitely a Nerdy Book Club Member) and her older brother (who I can’t seem to find the right book for yet and who won’t admit that there may be a book or two he likes). I have also found that mini-bookclub (just me and one of them) time at the local frozen yogurt shop is another way to celebrate a book together. Thanks for the great post.
This is a wonderful post! Especially lovely that your children are still young and so you are clearly in the midst of living these “suggestions.” I have raised two little bookaholics – I have 9 year old boy/girl twins. Our house has books everywhere and it always makes me smile. The only thing I am now contending with is this one: “No I can’t do that now Mom. I’m reading.” Then I need to come fact to face with my thrill that I have raised readers and my concern that they will never complete a household chore when I actually ask them to! Usually I give in to the book love! It’s what I would rather be doing too . . .
This is a very good list and agree with Sandy that it should be handed out to all parents.
Regarding #7 – pictures books-although they are marked with an E, we refer to that section as the “Easy” or “Everyone” section. I love when my older students (highest age is 10) check out books to read to to their younger brothers or sisters!
I literally followed EVERY recommendation for my now children’s ages, 24, 21, and 19. One is a teacher and the other two are psychology majors at a local university. While all of them like to read, not one is a passionate reader. I cannot for the life of me fathom why not. I love to read, read daily and wish that I was a librarian, instead of an assistant principal. I guess my advice is that our kids will be what they will be.
Mmm…I wish I was a librarian, too…No certificated librarians in my district, though!
Insightful ideas! Thank you for sharing. As a new mom, I will definitely have to remember #9…
Great post. I’m happy to report that I follow all ten of these, and my kids love to sit down and read (even though neither of them can technically “read” yet). However, as you probably know, since you wrote the post, I groaned out loud while reading Nos. 2, 3, 5, and 6. They hurt because they’re true.
I never want to tell my kids, “No, I won’t read that book with you.” That’s why we put holiday books away with the holiday decorations. Out of sight, out of mind.
My son comes home from the library with Cars books, holiday books, etc. We read them. But thank goodness he takes my suggestions (most of which come from NBCers) happily and greedily.
Great ideas! Everyone seems to ring true to the idea of promoting books. Let them read what they want to read, support them to read what they can read, model reading to them. I love it! I like Aly’s suggestion of a mini-book club that meets for froyo or ice cream, too! 🙂
Pingback: Top Picks Thursday 04-19-2012 « The Author Chronicles
Pingback: Reading News & Children’s Literacy Roundup – Mid April 2012 | Book(re)Marks