2nd time reading this one!
I Still remember a little book my mother gave me when I was a little girl. She read it to me and I enjoyed it so much! There was a robin in it and a family of bears, which of course I did not notice, I cared only about that robin. A little boys grandmother was telling him a story about when her daughter was a little girl and this particular robin came into her life. This was a ‘Little Bear” book. I think it is quite a coincidence that Harper Collins Children’s Books, Who published “Little Bear” and I Can Read! which the series “Little Bear” is part of and has been since it’s debut in 1957! Harper Collins is also one of the leading publishers in children’s books, my son E. loves “Warriors”. He owns all the books available in every series! They are asking us, the blogging community to share our tips on what we do to make summer reading fun.
My kids like their computer and wii time. One of the things we incorporated to control how much time they spend on the video games and their computers was to think of a reward system.
We invested a ridiculously small amount of money on some (yes) poker tokens. Gave them each a different value: Red – 50 pts. , Blue – 25 pts., White – 10 pts. My kids got to make and decorate their own ‘token piggy bank’ out of empty containers with replaceable lids and a slot big enough for the tokens to fit. Every time they read they would keep their time and they would get ‘paid’ in tokens for their time. We decided beforehand how much they would earn for say, 20 min. of reading vs. 40min. of reading (i.e Red, blue or white token). Every time they finish reading before they receive their reward, we talk about what they have read, any new characters and such. When they finish a book, they receive BONUS tokens!! We give then 100 pts. for finishing a book and telling us all about it.
With their tokens/points, they are allowed to ‘purchase time to play video games, computer time (unless it is for research- at our discretion). They will love to save their time in their decorated banks and will also take them all out to count and make it a great opportunity to learn to count by 10s, 25s and 50s depending on the age! We started this with Little One when he was 4, it worked great! My kids started carrying their books everywhere with them, and beg me to let them read before bed (my mom always comments about that one)
My kids love to read now and I hardly ever have to ask them to. Every now and again I do have to bring out my tokens from the drawer, dust them off a bit and put them to work. What ever tricks or ideas you may have to keep your kids interested in reading this summer, be sure and share them with a friend. It is important to keep our kids interested in reading and literature - Feed their imagination.
I Can Read! was one of the first easy to read series for children to read on independently. They now have more than 6 million books sold including 200 titles! Visit their site for a complete list of I Can Read! books and activities!!
Disclaimer: I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms blogging program to be eligible to get an “I can Read!” For more information on how you can participate, click here. 
LOL, it’s obvious we like some of the same authors. I love Coraline. I’ve read the amjority of Neil Gaiman’s books, I got the audiobook of The Graveyard Book for my daughter and she loved it. She would listen to it while she was creating a craft.
I had the book, and new it was ok for her to listen too. 
I was turned on to Neil Gaiman by a lovely mother who had a blog on WordPress it was titled The Other Mother.
This was a few years ago. We chatted a lot, about book, writings, and everything else. Shortly afterwards Hurricane Katrina hit. She lived in New Orleans. I didn’t hear from her. Her blog went dark, and so did the other places she frequented online.
I do hope that she just was taking a blogging break and nothing happened to her and her family. Through her blog, I got to meet not only her but her family too.
I just noticed the Harper Collin’s reference, many of the books I read as a child was by that publisher. My first books by that publisher, were the Laura Ingalls Wilder series. I got them when I was eight years old. I remember catching a few of the Laura Ingalls Wilder shows when I was in my 20′s, however, I wasn’t impressed with them. In my mind, nothing could compare to her series.
My daughter and I are now rereading those books. It’s something we both look forward to, and for her it’s a much anticipated bedtime treat.
Oh by the way, I hope you win the book!
I remember reading The Shining when I was 8 years old (what was I thinking) the book scared me, and so began my love for horror books. As I got older, I became jaded and horror books didn’t scare me anymore, doesn’t stop me from reading them though.
Funny thing is I could not watch the Movie The Shining, for a while because I would go back to the effect the book had on me as a child. I would always turn it off when the twins approached Danny. I finally watched it, and you know what? The movie simply wasn’t scary.
One of the many things I’ve always enjoyed about bookreading is that it encourages you to use your imagination.
My daughter was happy to get books for Christmas andher birthday. This past birthday I bought her a lot of art supplies she was so happy. She will spend hours drawing if I let her, not too much tv in this household.
This is too funny… I love horror books! Still own The Shining, did watch the movie when I was younger though. You are right, they are NEVER as good as the book. This is a lesson my kids have actually learned as well, Coraline, for example. My seven year old read the book before we watched the film and he was disappointed in some parts of the film. I had to explain to him about time constraints and limitations when filming and how when he reads his imagination is doing most of the work (and he has a good one
! ).
Oh, Thank you , about the book! I mostly did the post to share and there is also a chance to get the post published on the TwitterMoms bulletin! It was fun something I had not tried for… Thank you!! Me too =)
I always enjoy seeing kids reading books. In this digital age, it’s nice to see children with book in their hands. I fell in love with reading at an early age, and have tried to pass it on to my seven year old daughter. Thus far it’s working. Although we do a lot of things outdoors, she reads a few times daily. At night, she’ll even beg to read “just one more chapter, mom!”
Ooh, that’s great to hear. Both my boys will always have a book with them, people will often comment and they also beg to read at night, lol. My mom thinks it is wired that they often ask for books when asked what they would like for birthdays or Christmas!