An Affair with Books

Start them young. That's what happened to me, and to my daughter too. I started reading books before I started primary school when I was around four going five years old. I love reading my cousin's books for her English class who was in fifth grade at that time.

My unforgettable first book, More Stories on Parade. The story is still clear on my mind where the sky is within reach of the people. The lady hang her comb and her pearls just as the sky went up so they became what we know now as the moon and the stars. That time I was amazed.

I read a lot as I was growing up. Bookstores are my favorite destinations whenever I go to the mall. I save money for the books I want to buy. I also did a lot of crossword puzzles when I was pregnant with my daughter. Maybe all these helped my daughter become a voracious reader too.

I bought her books even when she was still a baby. Soft books which she can flip over as I point her the graphics and tell her about them.

Just as it was then for me, bookstores are always in our itinerary whenever we go to the mall. She reads all kinds of books - from The Giving Tree, Dr. Seuss, Lemony Snicket, Luisa May Alcott to High School Musical, Junie B. Jones, etcetera.
My mother sends her activity books as well, mostly word games. My daughter is a wordsmith.

Her inclination varies. At this point she loves reading books about middle school life and well, tween/teen lit as they call it. She loves the Amelia series, also books by Sarah Mlynowski among other authors on her shelf my mind can grasp right now.

As you can see in the mosaic below, she reads her books while waiting for our food to be served. She can't wait to get home before she flips through the pages. She also got my habit of highlighting phrases/paragraphs which are worth remembering.

These are general steps we can apply to further motivate our pre-teens to read or make them interested if they are not yet into it:

1. One thing I know is to lead by example. Books, magazines and newspapers are all over the house. In no time will the children get the habit of picking them up and reading them which they also see their parents do.

2. I'm not one to discriminate books as long as the children can relate to them. Popular books are often the way to start to get them interested in reading.

3. Magazines are welcome in the house. We subscribe to my daughter's monthly dose of tween magazine, Total Girl. She gets to read my magazines on parenting, home and living as well as his dad's Top Gear collections.

4. Start a list. My daughter and I have a our list of the books we want to read in a month. There are usually three to four books in a month. My only rule is she has to finish one first before we buy the next on the list. So far, at this time, we have both disciplined ourselves on that area.

Have a great weekend! It's raining where I am and. A cup of coffee and a good book will be fine. :)

***More about books at Photohunt.