I am excited to link up with
about one of our family favorite activities:READING!
I work part-time as a children's librarian assistant and as hectic as that sometimes makes my schedule, I LOVE helping kids find books that turn them on to reading!
Since my girls were in utero, Jason and I have read to them. As infants, we read to them. As toddlers, of course, we read to them. Now that they are older, I still sometimes read to them and sometimes they read to me. And sometimes we all just curl up in my "big bed" and read silently to ourselves, just enjoying the closeness of each other and a bowl of popcorn!
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| Reading in bed with my girls is one of my favorite activities! |
Last year, Allie read the Mother-Daughter Book Club series. This series seriously changed my girl! She became fascinated with different authors and classic literature from Jane Austen to Louisa May Alcott. She also has since become email buddies with the author of this series :)
Allie decided that she would like to start a Mother-Daughter Book Club and so, this winter, we did!
Once a month, we meet with 5 other girls and their moms to discuss books. Whoever is hosting gets to pick the book. This has changed the way all of the girls read. Now, as they read, they think about whether or not this is a good book to share with the book club! They love sharing books and are even recommending books to each other for personal reading.
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| The girls each write a question on a piece of paper and then go around and take turns answering the question. |
This summer, the moms have decided to start a weekly Mominar to help us help our girls with the discussion and literary analysis. Each week this summer, we meet with the other moms and girls from this group and while the girls play, the moms watch Teaching the Classics.
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| I love watching these DVDs with my friends because we can stop and discuss or discuss after and get other ideas and understandings of implementation. |
We are also all reading and discussing Deconstructing Penguins: Parents, Kids and the Bond of Reading by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone. I am not all the way through the book, but do plan to do a review when I am done, but I will say--this book is excellent if you are looking to broaden the discussion of books with your children!
So far, our Book Club has read:Number the Stars by Lois LowryTuck Everlasting by Natalie BabbittChocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling
This month, we are reading When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.
Sometimes the girls read the books for book club on their own, other times we read together. This month, because this is one of my favorite books and it takes place in New York City in the 70s and 80s and I love to talk about that time period, as it's the time period when I grew up, we are reading together, so I can insert some personal anecdotes.
As a children's librarian, I happen to have some VERY strong opinions about children reading.
The best way to create a lifelong love of reading is to let children pick books for themselves,
books they enjoy. Sure, from time to time, I require my girls to read certain books or we read certain books together, but I also allow my girls to read fun novels that they enjoy.
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| My girls tend to read authors, they are currently enamored with Wendy Mass :) |
