A Present You Can Open Again and Again

And it’s so true! Whether you’re a serial re-reader like me, or whether you only read each book once, you still get to open that wonderful present over and over again, and receive the gifts it has to offer: entertainment, escape, education, a new perspective.

As a mother and a teacher, I take great pleasure in sharing my passion with the children in my life. My daughters both love reading and are often found with noses buried in their current read. I love that they’re old enough now to find their own voices (so to speak) in terms of what they love to read. They each have their own unique tastes and favourite authors, and as they grow and become better readers, they begin to pick up books that I enjoy myself – what a thrill when my oldest read The Help, and I could sit and chat, for the first time ever, with my child, about a book we had both read and loved. 

But we didn’t get here by chance. To be sure, there must be some kind of a “reading” gene sequence somewhere down there in their DNA, but I know that the real reason my kids love to read is because children do what they see. I read, ergo they read. I value and love reading, ergo they value and love reading. Oh, of course we all know that reading to youngsters is important, but let’s not overlook the importance of modeling to your children. We all know (from our own painful or embarrassing mistakes as parents) that children do as we do, not as we say. So to help your children be great readers then, yes, by all means, you should read to them. But you should also read with them and around them. Sitting quietly with your children and reading a book, magazine or newspaper has got to be at least as important as sitting them down and reading a story book to them. 

If your child’s not a natural reader, I recommend reading a novel with them. I do this with my students every year. Pick up something that interests you both, or something with a particular hook: I like to go after books that are about to be made into movies, and to get them into the kids before the film is released. A few years ago I read The Invention of Hugo Cabret to my class before Hugo hit theatres, and this year we’re reading The Hobbit, and hoping to wind it up before the film’s theatrical release on December 14th. My students have already asked if we can take a field trip as a class to see the movie! Two years ago I read Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone to my grade threes, and when we finished we had a movie and popcorn party. Then we spent a few days discussing the similarities and differences between the book and the film, the reasons why the filmmakers might have made certain choices, the differences between the two art forms and the benefits to reading a book before seeing the movie. By the time we had finished reading the first book, at least four of my students had gotten the sequel, and by the end of the year, three of those kids had finished at least three books in the series. To this day, those same students will approach me at school to reminisce about the fun we had reading Harry Potter.

There’s no shortage of great fiction geared to young people these days – so you should have no trouble finding something that both parent and child alike will enjoy. If you’re not sure where to start, why not take a look at recent winners of the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Awards? I’m a huge fan of CanLit, and these winners are all excellent works of fiction geared at young readers.Try the TD Summer Reading Club website for other great suggestions as well. Check out UrbanMoms’ own book bloggers, Alice of Shelf Candy and Novel Girl for some wonderful suggestions as well. 

But wherever you find your books, don’t let your children grow up without the present you can open again and again. Get out there and read! Read with, to and around your children. They’ll thank you for it every time they open a book.