Friday, November 30, 2012

Simple Holiday Shopping


If you are pondering what kinds of gifts to buy for young children in your life, don’t overlook the obvious: books! No child can have too many books. And if people ask you what your own children need, tell them: books. As gifts, books are easy to wrap, inexpensive to ship, and can provide hours and hours of joy. 

Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi.

-Oprah Winfrey



Friday, November 23, 2012

It's Book Friday

As you start your holiday shopping--or make lists and plans to shop--consider buying books for everyone on your list. Personal, thoughtful, portable, and relatively inexpensive, books are a perfect gift for young and old. Is your three-year old obsessed with dinosaurs? Feed that obsession! Is your mother-in-law an avid gardener or a marathon runner? There will be books to provide inspiration. Browse the shelves or the pages of your favorite online retailer. And maybe gift yourself while you are at it. Happy shopping!

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

What I am Reading Next

The next book on the very the top of my nightstand book stack is Book Love by Melissa Taylor.  It will be published next month, but is already available if you have a Kindle. Check out the link to Amazon at the bottom of this post. Here is a description of the book.


In Book Love: Help Your Child Grow from Reluctant to Enthusiastic Reader award-winning educator and parent Melissa Taylor gives busy parents of kids ages three to ten engaging, playful, out-of-the box ideas for growing a reader, assisting kids who are learning to read, and gently encouraging reluctant readers. Just a few of the many helpful insights and strategies she shares include:
    The most common reasons why kids find it hard to learn to read or may hate to read (too boring, too tricky, too blurry, too “sitty”)—and what to do about them
    Activities and product recommendations to facilitate letter recognition, rhyming, sight word skills, phonics, and fluency
    Approaches for improving word attack and reading comprehension
    Book lists organized by kids’ interests
    Printable sight word flashcards and word strategy bookmarks

Packed with practical, bite-sized ideas that get children reading and loving books, Book Love can be your go-to guide for reading help for kids.

What I think . . .

There are all kinds of readers. Some—like my daughter and me—are never without a book to read for pleasure. Others—like my son—are careful, analytical, and curious readers who read primarily to seek information from the page.


No matter what kind of reader your child becomes, you can help him or her get started. After all, you are your child’s first teacher. And, best of all, you can have some fun in the process.


Please feel free to share your own ideas. Tell me about ways you've enjoyed reading with your child.


Madeline Boskey, Ph.D.