Family Reads

Your Preschoolers Deserve Quality

If there's a driving philosophy behind Family Reads, it's that our kids deserve quality reading material and the time from us to make great books available to them. Not caring, or not paying attention to, what your children read is the educational equivalent of feeding them fast food for every meal. They won't be well-nourished, but they won't be hungry either. I love it when we use the web to encourage better reading choices for our kids, and a post I just read at Simple Mom made my heart smile: Twaddle-Free Books for Preschoolers: My Top 10 Favorites. There's great material there for our Level 2 and 3 readers, and don't miss the comments for lots more quality suggestions.

You read some, I'll read some

Wow, it's been a while since we've posted! We've had a whirlwind start to the school year and just this week Ben popped up with the chicken pox. Thankfully, it's a pretty mild case so he's mostly itchy and feeling just bad enough to watch way too much TV. (Sickness is definitely a time when he doesn't have much interest in reading.)

Anyway, before the spots started popping up, we had dinner out with some friends and wandered into a bookstore afterward. Their sweet 7-year-old girl has a thing for books featuring animals on the cover, and is just headstrong enough to not take book recommendations. When she found a novel she was just sure she would love reading (and we adults were dubious about whether she'd like or finish it), her quick-thinking dad proposed what I thought was a great solution: we'll take turns reading. You read 20 minutes on your own and then I'll read some of the book to you for 20 minutes. He already reads to her every night, but this was a way of allowing her to earn her choice while helping her get through a tricky selection.

With book fairs already hitting our schools, this tip might come in handy very soon! How about you...have you come up with your own creative solutions to this kind of dilemma with your kids?

First Day of School Books

Fresh folders, wide-ruled notebooks, and new packs of pencils are marching down the aisles of superstores across Texas as the first day of school draws near. Seasoned students like Ben are squeezing every last drop of lazy summer out of these remaining days, but families with younger children might be noticing a definite undercurrent of nervous energy around the house. If you find yourself with a fretful kiddo on your hands, it's time for a trip to the library! (Yes, that's my solution to everything ;) Including suggestions from our amazing guest reviewer Emily Morgan (who is a former teacher, so she knows what she's talking about), here are some picks to help quell first-day fears:

• Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate (this is a whole series of Kindergarten books)
• First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg
• Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary
• The Ticky-Tacky Doll by Cynthia Rylant
• The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
• Mouse's First Day of School by Lauren Thompson
• The Night Before Kindergarten by Natasha Wing
• Owen by Kevin Henkes
• I Don't Want to Go Back to School by Marisabina Russo
• How I Spent My Summer Vacation by Mark Teague

If you've got a favorite back-to-school book, please share below!

Family Reads Library List: 2nd Quarter 2008

Grab your library card and turn on the printer, because the  Family Reads Library List for the second quarter of 2008 is ready! It's organized by level, so you can concentrate your efforts on the appropriate reading level for your kids. If you missed the Library List for the first quarter of 2008, you can find that post here. Feel free to share the love and pass along some copies to your friends!

Download Family Reads Library List for 2nd Quarter 2008

Explore New Territory

Finding books for last week's featured America reviews took me way out of my library comfort zone. I love a good story, so I usually stick pretty close to the fiction aisles. But you know what? I had a great time roaming in the kids nonfiction section! I found all kinds of great selections there, including poetry, history, biographies and more. And during my wandering, I was reminded that some of the best stories of all are ones that actually happened. So if your library is like ours and separates kids fiction and non-fiction, make sure to take some time this summer and expand your library territory. How about you? What are some of your favorite non-fiction books for kids?

The Scrambled States of America

So some states are hanging around at a party one day when Idaho and Virginia come up with a wacky idea: "Let's change places!" The other states start to think that they might like to see new parts of our great nation too, so they decide to pull a switcheroo. Next thing you know, Kansas has traded places with Hawaii, Nevada and Mississippi fall in love, and Minnesota gets a sunburn after trading places with Florida. This will not do. Eventually the states resume their original positions, glad to be home, yet happy for the adventures they've experienced.

This is the story of The Scrambled States of America, a book which is the basis for a fun family game by the same name. The creators, Gamewright, definitely know what they're doing when it comes to making enjoyable games that are quick and easy to play. But the reason this game merits being the Ideas and Inspiration post during America Week at Family Reads, is that it's a painless and entertaining way to learn about US geography. And for someone who pretty much loses any scrap of intelligence around a map, that's saying something! You can play the game in about 20 minutes and it's geared towards 2-4 players, ages 8 and up. When we were in our game-crazy phase, this one got pulled out of the closet often!

Kid Picks

Here's a fun idea for summer: let your daughter or son choose one book for you to read! Reading one of your child's favorite books shows that you value their opinion and gives you a chance to share one of their interests (especially in the case of older children). If you're not entirely up-to-speed on what he or she is reading, this can be a great way to get a peak into their world.

Plus, you get the pleasure of reading what is likely a short and satisfying story — one you can enjoy simply for the pleasure of it, which fits perfectly with the long, hot summer. That is unless your child chooses a book from a series like Harry Potter or Eragon! In some cases you might want to put a page limit on their choice :)

Children get quite a kick out of seeing a parent reading one of their books and you'll be surprised at how curious they are to hear your reaction. Lori has read a couple of Ben's suggestions and it always sparks fun, interesting conversations. We were reminded of this idea when author Julia Glass mentioned in the Wall Street Journal that she allows her own 12-year old boy to "assign" her a book each summer. Give it a try!

In Season: Summertime Books

Books seem to resonate a little more when we can connect what's happening in the story to what's happening in our lives. One of the easiest ways to accomplish this is picking a book that's set in the current season. If we're nearing Christmas, for example, I'll usually shy away from books set in the dog days of summer (jotting it down on my list, knowing that I'll forget it otherwise). So today's Ideas and Inspiration post is dedicated to great reads set in the summertime. Here's a starter set—chime in with your own family favorites!

• Bats at the Beach by Brian Lies (Level 2) - Thanks, for introducing us to that one, Gina!
• Flotsam by David Wiesner (Level 2)
• Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran (Level 2)
• Owly: The Way Home and The Bittersweet Summer by Andy Runton (Level 3)
• The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare (Level 4)
• Summerhouse Time by Eileen Spinelli (Level 4)
  
• Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright (Level 4)
• Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (Level 5)
• Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (Level 5)
• Way Down Deep by Ruth White (Level 5)
• Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen (Level 5)

Family Reads - Summer Style!

From the parents I talk to and the blogs I follow, it seems that school is out for most of us and summer is here! That means exciting adventures, family vacations, crafty projects, lazy days at the pool, and not very much time to spend in front of a computer. And amen to that!

We want to make your visits to Family Reads well worth your rare summer screen time, so we're planning on mixing things up a bit. Here's what we have in mind:

• Quick picks: Super-short reviews of books we've read, loved, and recommend 100%.
• More guest reviewers. Haven't our guest reviewers contributed fantastic content?! Emily, Gina, and Robin have all brought their own unique perspective to Family Reads and pointed our way to reading treasures that might never have shown up in the Bailey bookstack. I'm always eager to hear what they have to say. Huge thanks, ladies! We know there are many more of you out there who've got some favorites to share...consider this your official invitation! We keep things pretty informal at the Family Reads headquarters, so shoot us an email and we'll get you set up with the (minimal) details.
• Ideas and Inspiration all skate! You are an incredibly smart group of readers. We really love that about you :) So we want to hear your ideas for making reading a wonderful part of your family life. Sometimes we'll be asking for responses in comments and others might be full posts from readers like you. If you're not sure about writing reviews, this may be the perfect guest post opportunity for you!
• To get things started, stop by next Thursday and let us know your favorite books set in the summertime.

That's what we're thinking, but how about you? Any thoughts about what you'd like to see on Family Reads this summer? Leave a comment and let us know!

What won't change around here? You can continue to count on Family Reads as a place to find dependably delightful books for kids!

Celebrating with Books

Today is the last day of school for Ben and he's beside himself with joy. We're all in a festive mood, so when I was considering what to write about for today, I  began thinking how often books have been part of our family celebrations. For years, we headed to the library immediately after school was over to sign up for the summer reading program and check out a big stack of books. As a small Valentine's Day treat this year, we gave Ben a book that he'd been wanting to read and was obviously not going to be carried by our library. At Christmastime, it never fails that there are books under the tree. And Ben has picked up on the trend by choosing books for many of his presents to us. We even gave one of Ben's favorite books as a party favor at his last birthday party.

We're always happy to receive these gifts and eagerly anticipate diving into each new book. But even more than that, we're inviting books to the party. It's a subtle, yet real, way to acknowledge that reading is worthy of celebration.