Book Journal

As Brian has documented on his blog, we are a little nutty about lists in our family. But our number one favorite list has to be Ben's book journal. Starting in 2001 with the first book he read on his own (Go, Dog. Go!), we have kept a record of every book Ben has read. By now, with seven years of books logged on its pages, it has become quite a treasure. Ben absolutely loves it and looks through it much like he does our family scrapbooks—leafing through the pages slowly, remembering all the different reading phases he went through, talking about the special books, and generally coming away with a nice sense of accomplishment.

If you want to try something like this for your child, here are a few tips to consider:

• Even if your child has a voracious reading appetite, this journal will be around for a looooong time. Make sure you pick one that you'll all enjoy for many years. Step away from the Hannah Montana notebook!
• Don't get caught up in perfection - there are crossouts, reverse arrows, etc. in Ben's book and that's just fine. It's a work in progress and when you step back and look at the whole thing in a few years, you won't even notice.
• Along those lines, make it easy. For as much of a computer geek family as we are, nothing could have compared to good old pen and paper for this project.
• Keep it visible. When we re-arranged our living room this December to make room for the Christmas tree, we moved the end table and its contents (including the journal) to the game room. Subsequently, I did not record any of the books Ben read in December. We have some catching up to do this weekend - it was a long break!
• If your child is making the transition from reading picture books to chapter books, you might consider using a symbol or letter to indicate which is which. You won't need this in the later years, but it's fun to see the back-and-forth when they are moving up in their reading skills.
• Make sure to note the month and year. It's amazing to see the dips and surges that happen from month to month. We used to get worried if Ben hit a dry spell and didn't want to read for a while, but thanks to the Book Journal, we know he'll soon return to his love of words.

Comments

[Katherine]

This is such a cool idea. Maybe I'll institute it with my grandchildren as a way to keep in contact with them - "write me an email every time you finish a book and tell me what you thought..." or something.

I wish I had done it with my kids (although I suppose they could start now if they were amenable - I couldn't keep up with them myself).

I HAVE, however, kept a list of books I, myself, have read since my wedding day almost 15 years ago. I split it into 6-month chunks to keep it even simpler. It is indeed very fun to look back over.

[Lori Bailey]

How funny, Katherine - that's when I started keeping track of my reading as well!

And, for our kids, I think it's never too late to start. I wish I could see my literary progression from the tween years with Sweet Valley High books (ugh) through high school and college where I learned to love good writing.

I LOVE the idea about grandchildren - what a great way to keep in touch!

Thanks for stopping by!