On this week’s show, I talk with literacy expert, educator, and mom Melissa Taylor about her new book for parents called Book Love: Help Your Child Grow from Reluctant to Enthusiastic Reader. Melissa explains the four main reasons why your child might not be the reader you wish she were, and how you can help her become a lifelong lover of reading. We also discuss what books might pique your child’s interest and get him hooked. As a bookworm myself, I was painfully surprised when my first-born son did not share my passion. In fact, although he enjoyed being read to, he hated reading himself and spent third grade trying to convince his teacher that he was illiterate. He is now a very capable reader and reads for school without complaint, but rarely reads fiction for pleasure. I wish I had the benefit of hearing from Melissa or reading her book when he was younger.
If you want to learn more about Melissa, books she recommends as well as educational toys, games, and apps, I suggest you visit her wonderful blog, ImaginationSoup. You can find the audio recordings she mentioned at Greathall.com. As usual, I will be blogging about this week’s topic at the PlaydatePlanet site. I hope you will join the conversation there or on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
As a helpful reference, some of the books and authors we discuss during the show are:
EARLY CHAPTER BOOKS
Captain Underpants series
Bad Kitty series
Wayside School series
Lunch Lady series
Magic Tree House series
National Geographic Kids – (Weird but True)
AGES 10 AND UP
Percy Jacson series
Peter and the Starcatchers series
Alex Rider
Artemis Fowl
Diary of the Wimpy Kid series
In a Glass Grimmly & A Tale Dark & Grimm
The Chronicles of Narnia series
The Giver and other books by Lois Lowry
Hatchet series and others by Gary Paulsen
Island of the Blue Dolphins
MIDDLE SCHOOL AND UP
The Hunger Games series
The Maze Runner series
The Agency series (by Y.S. Lee)
HIGH SCHOOL
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
MORE ADVANCED PICTURE BOOKS
Certain Books by Patricia Polacco (ex. Thank You, Mr. Falker, Pink and Say, Bully)
Books by Chris Van Allsburg (ex. The Polar Express, Jumanji, Zathura)
Certain Books by Jane Yolen
Jon Scieszka (The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!)