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Review by Earline Kendall
In this age of technology, parents may need some extra tricks to entice their kids to love reading. Mary Leonhardt gives at least 99 in "99 Ways to Get Kids to Love Reading and 100 Books They'll Love." As a high school English teacher for 25 years, Leonhardt knows well that not all kids come to reading by the same route nor are they all willing to read regularly, and her suggestions for enticing kids to read vary from subtle to downright blatant.
Leonhardt obviously believes the younger the child, the easier the remedy as many of her ideas are for parents of little children. Set up rituals for buying books; the day before vacation buy books for the trip and to read at the beach; add a book to the candy in the Easter basket; make a special ritual out of giving a new book each Christmas; give bookstore gift certificates as "extra" birthday party presents. Get young children into the habit of going to the library. They love story hours and choosing books on their own.
Leonhardt resorts to guerrilla tactics when she discusses luring older children to reading. Fight dirty, she advises, to overcome the temptation of television. Own only one TV; avoid cable with its many choices; NEVER allow a child to have a TV in the bedroom. Make the rooms where books and reading material are the most inviting, comfortable places in the house. Create reading nooks in the kitchen, the bedroom, the den, even the car! Leonhardt even suggests choosing a house with a shady porch just for summer reading. This is all-out war!
Parents can expect kids to have reading binges of series books, but take comfort knowing that reading leads to more reading. Remember that even avid readers have periods when they do little reading, and keep providing books on topics they love. When in doubt about what kids like, refer to the list of 100 books and series Leonhardt recommends to attract the most reluctant reader.
But what if your child won't read at all? That's where Leonhardt really shines. Leave reading material around on their favorite topics, she suggests. Buy soccer magazines and stories about road trips of their favorite teams. Send kids to camp with a load of books and magazines (just don't expect to get them back). Spend as much on books for your kids as you do on their sports or hobbies.
Her earlier books, "Parents Who Love Reading, Kids Who Don't" and "Keeping Kids Reading" are also full of wit and wisdom to insure kids' life-long reading habits. She believes kids have to smear some jelly on books, lose a few, forget to return some, before they become addicted to reading, but a little jelly, a few lost books, and paying some library fines are worth producing real readers.
Earline Kendall is a professor of Early Childhood Education at Vanderbilt University.
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