Raising Readers

Apparently, May is "Get Caught Reading" Month - an event sponsored by the American Association of Publishers to help inspire kids to read.

Got me thinking:

There are about a billion studies that show the benefits of reading to kids. I won't rehash those. (You're welcome.) But I will say that if you want to do ONE thing to improve your children's lives: READ TO THEM!

I have always been an avid reader. I read to learn. I read to relax. I read for the sheer pleasure of it.

My mom used to have to pry books from my hands to get me to go to bed at night. I minored in English in college so that I would have an excuse to take extra classes in Shakespeare and American Literature. I always have a huge "to read" stack next to my bed and I never go anywhere without a book.

So, it's just possible that I might be a wee bit biased when I say that it's a national tragedy that the numbers of people who read for pleasure are declining.

I think our society would be much better off if more people turned off American Idol and picked up a great American author.

I don't know why more people don't share my love of the written word. And I can't claim to know any special secret as to how to inspire young people to develop that love of reading.

But I do know that I want to do everything in my power to pass that love onto my sons.

I've been reading to them and telling them stories since they were only a few weeks old. It didn't matter what the reading material was when they were babies. They just liked the sound of my voice. So I just read to them whatever I happened to be reading at the time. Then we moved on to board books (yum, chewy!) and picture books. And now we read simple stories with fun characters.

I just love reading a book from my own childhood to my kids. It's like visiting an old friend: Frog and Toad ... The Pokey Little Puppy ... The Giving Tree ... Mowgli's Flute ... The Berenstein Bears ... Where the Wild Things Are. I can hardly wait to read them the Harry Potter Books! :)

As much as I have loved to read my whole life, I have found that - like so many things - it is even better with my kids.

I hope that my love of reading will "rub off" on my kids. Because I think that to raise a reader is to raise a lifelong learner. And those are the kind of people I like to share my planet with.