They told me they had a particular problem with some of their boys in the 7 to 9 age group.

They needed inspiring.

Despite my reservations about returning to the classroom, and also doubting my ability to have a positive impact on them in that environment, I felt it was almost my duty to answer their call for help.

Since leaving fulltime education I have only been back into schools for playgroups when my child was a pre-schooler and thereafter for parent consultations, school performances and fairs.

I have played chaperone on a few school trips, and a couple of years ago I went into my son’s school to tell the children about a charity walk I made along Hadrian’s Wall so had a tiny insight of what to expect.

Still, the idea of trying to engage with a 30 strong group of Key Stage 2 children, and thus attempt to get them more engaged with literacy was a shade more than daunting.

However, armed with some guidance from friends and folks of the Internet, I set off for my morning at the school.

My idea was to try and convince children, that although literacy is hard work – for some – that the rewards are enormous and virtually limitless.

I started by asking if they enjoyed literacy, and before giving them enough time to answer explained that it wasn’t really something I enjoyed at school.

It wasn’t until I discovered that it’s what you are writing and reading about that creates any interest that my love of language developed.

And that’s what I tried to practically convey in the next 60 minutes or so.  I showed them examples of my writing, specifically that I’ve done reviewing books, toys and days out.

Then I gave each group of children some toys – most of which I’d been sent to review – and asked them to write about them.

Imagine someone who’d never seen these things before, a parent perhaps, and then write an explanation of these toys for them.

What were they?

How had they been made?

What could you do with them?

What improvements would you suggest?

I levelled the playing field for them too.  Expressing that spelling and grammar (in this exercise) was not important, and it was more the language they used and how they expressed themselves and the toys in front of them.

Hopefully so they knew that it wasn’t necessarily the ‘best’ at literacy who was automatically going to come up with work trumping everyone else.

Many seemed to get it, and some of the specific children I was targeting really engaged with trying to put into words how they would describe the toys.

I hope they could see that by working hard in their future literacy lessons that this would be a process they would find easier.

Introducing a bit of healthy competition, specifically with those reluctant boys in mind, I awarded one of their children for their excellent work with a prize.

The prize being a Tidy Books Cabin Puzzle.

But all the children were brilliant, as was my experience of spending time with them on this subject, one that I feel passionately about.

That said I’m not in a rush to repeat this process and don’t envy those in the teaching profession.

Yet I comforted myself in the belief that I made one teacher’s job a tiny bit easier, if only for an hour!

If you’ve volunteered to help out at your children’s school, what’s been your experience?  If it’s something you’ve not done before, is it something you’d consider?  Are you a teacher? What do you think about parents volunteering in the classroom?

You can read more about one scheme to get volunteers into classrooms in London, sponsored by the London Evening Standard through Volunteer Reading Help which operates throughout the UK.  If your young reader and writer is in need of inspiration, you could visit the Ministry of Stories which is inspired by Dave Eggers Pirate Store in the US

Inspiring reluctant readers in the classroom is a post from: TidyBooks - The Childrens Storage Solution.

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It must be somewhere, it must, it must

It’s not that I’ve lost it – it’s really just

I got it

And then I forgot it

I put it down here, I’m sure I did

It’s not my fault if it’s gone and hid

I got it

And then I forgot it

So it must be somewhere, it has to be

I never lose my things, you see

I got it

And then I forgot it

And if with the ‘got’ you choose to ignore

That small bit in front, that miniscule ‘for’

That means, I reckon, in fact I’m sure

That I’ve only gone and got it some more

(Does that make sense?)

It must be some…what do you suppose?

It was here all along right in front of my nose!

Elli Woollard

Elli Woollard writes poems regularly on her blog.  You can read her biog here

Elli’s work is copyrighted.  Please see her notes on copyright and use here

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Giving a child a love for reading is a gift that involves more than a story.  The texture, size and turning pages are parts of the experience of reading, and what are in important part of what makes children fall in love with books.   When Geraldine first created her Tidy Books bookcase, she was working on a belief that children should pick up, handle and choose their own books.  So we were fascinated to read this recent article in the New York Times which talks about the digital marketing professionals and other e-book fans who insist on traditional books for their children, saying the experience is an essential part of learning to read.   We hope you find it a revealing article too.

For Their Children, Many E-Book Fans Insist on Paper

Print books may be under siege from the rise of e-books, but they have a tenacious hold on a particular group: children and toddlers. Their parents are insisting this next generation of readers spend their early years with old-fashioned books.

This is the case even with parents who themselves are die-hard downloaders of books onto Kindles, iPads, laptops and phones. They freely acknowledge their digital double standard, saying they want their children to be surrounded by print books, to experience turning physical pages as they learn about shapes, colors and animals.

Parents also say they like cuddling up with their child and a book, and fear that a shiny gadget might get all the attention. Also, if little Joey is going to spit up, a book may be easier to clean than a tablet computer.

“It’s intimacy, the intimacy of reading and touching the world. It’s the wonderment of her reaching for a page with me,” said Leslie Van Every, 41, a loyal Kindle user in San Francisco whose husband, Eric, reads on his iPhone. But for their 2 1/2-year-old daughter, Georgia, dead-tree books, stacked and strewn around the house, are the lone option.

“She reads only print books,” Ms. Van Every said, adding with a laugh that she works for a digital company, CBS Interactive. “Oh, the shame.”

As the adult book world turns digital at a faster rate than publishers expected, sales of e-books for titles aimed at children under 8 have barely budged. They represent less than 5 percent of total annual sales of children’s books, several publishers estimated, compared with more than 25 percent in some categories of adult books.

Many print books are also bought as gifts, since the delights of an Amazon gift card are lost on most 6-year-olds.

Children’s books are also a bright spot for brick-and-mortar bookstores, since parents often want to flip through an entire book before buying it, something they usually cannot do with e-book browsing. A study commissioned by HarperCollins in 2010 found that books bought for 3- to 7-year-olds were frequently discovered at a local bookstore — 38 percent of the time.

And here is a question for a digital-era debate: is anything lost by taking a picture book and converting it to an e-book? Junko Yokota, a professor and director of the Center for Teaching Through Children’s Books at National Louis University in Chicago, thinks the answer is yes, because the shape and size of the book are often part of the reading experience. Wider pages might be used to convey broad landscapes, or a taller format might be chosen for stories about skyscrapers.

Size and shape “become part of the emotional experience, the intellectual experience. There’s a lot you can’t standardize and stick into an electronic format,” said Ms. Yokota, who has lectured on how to decide when a child’s book is best suited for digital or print format.

Publishers say they are gradually increasing the number of print picture books that they are converting to digital format, even though it is time-consuming and expensive, and developers have been busy creating interactive children’s book apps.

While the entry of new tablet devices from Barnes & Noble and Amazon this fall is expected to increase the demand for children’s e-books, several publishers said they suspected that many parents would still prefer the print versions.

“There’s definitely a predisposition to print,” said Jon Yaged, president and publisher of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, which released “The Pout-Pout Fish” by Deborah Diesen and “On the Night You Were Born” by Nancy Tillman.

“And the parents are the same folks who will have no qualms about buying an e-book for themselves,” he added.

That is the case in the home of Ari Wallach, a tech-obsessed New York entrepreneur who helps companies update their technology. He himself reads on Kindle, iPad and iPhone, but the room of his twin girls is packed with only print books.

“I know I’m a Luddite on this, but there’s something very personal about a book and not one of one thousand files on an iPad, something that’s connected and emotional, something I grew up with and that I want them to grow up with,” he said.

“I recognize that when they are my age, it’ll be difficult to find a ‘dead-tree book,’ ” he added. “That being said, I feel that learning with books is as important a rite of passage as learning to eat with utensils and being potty-trained.”

Some parents do not want to make the switch for even their school-age children. Alexandra Tyler and her husband read on Kindles, but for their son Wolfie, 7, it is print all the way.

“Somehow, I think it’s different,” she said. “When you read a book, a proper kid’s book, it engages all the senses. It’s teaching them to turn the page properly. You get the smell of paper, the touch.”

There are many software programs that profess to help children learn to read by, for example, saying aloud a highlighted word or picture. Not all parents buy in; Matthew Thomson, 38, an executive at Klout, a social media site, has tried such software for Finn, his 5-year-old. But he believes his son will learn to read faster from print. Plus the bells and whistles of an iPad become a distraction.

“When we go to bed and he knows it’s reading time, he says, ‘Let’s play Angry Birds a little bit,’ ” Mr. Thomson said. “If he’s going to pick up the iPad, he’s not going to read, he’s going to want to play a game. So reading concentration goes out the window.”

By MATT RICHTEL and JULIE BOSMAN

Published Nov 20^th 2011

A version of this article appeared in print on November 21, 2011, on page B1 of the New York edition with the headline: To Serve The Young, E-Book Fans Prefer Print.

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You will always find a few in our Tidy Box.

As a parent to a young boy – one pretty reluctant to reading – I think comics are a fabulous way of engaging children into reading.

Due to their ‘busy’ nature, having lots of characters and colour, coupled with their stories generally being short and having fewer words than traditional tales, they are a winner for me, and us.

However, and if I’m being cynical, the comic industry has become a sea of gimicks, competitions and a form of advertising for children’s brands.

It has been a struggle to convince my son of the genius of the Beano, versus an army of ‘brand-name’ comics with sweets or plastic rubbish sellotaped to the front of them.

Which is another reason I love the inventiveness of the David Fickling Books.

They are the company behind the creation of The DFC Library.

The DFC Library is perfect for reluctant readers. If you know a child that struggles to engage with ordinary fiction, place a DFC Library title in their hands, and watch as they learn to love books. This growing collection, full of hilarious plots, will appeal to anyone aged 9-90 – so feast your eyes on The DFC Library!

In a world where comic sales may be ailing, perhaps due to the nature and selling tactics mentioned above, this library consists of hard back books, serialising comic strips rather than the reader having to buy a weekly comic to keep up with the goings on of their favourite characters.

Super Animal Adventure Squad

The title we were sent, Super Animal Adventure Squad by James Turner, is about a collective of special agents that are charged with two different world saving tasks.

There’s ‘The Tea Time of Doom’ that deals with a level six cake emergency, as well as the gang having to find the world’s most valuable treasure, the Jade Baboon of Rangoon, in ‘The Case of the Baboon Bandit’.

Its characters are brilliant, and the stories are a great read for children and parents.  The words are very descriptive, fun and sure to extend and challenge a child’s vocabulary and understanding of it without turning them off literacy.

The Squad in action

James Turner is a prolific creator of comics, and his won acclaim and a giant online audience for his web comic The Unfeasible Adventures of Beaver and Steve.

Super Animal Adventure Squad first appeared in The Times and Guardian newspapers before becoming part of the DFC Library.  Turner is currently working on a series of books about the adventures of a group of half-dog, half-bean creatures called Mameshiba.

Sound more than interesting.

Much like the Super Animal Adventure Squad.

Book Review: Super Animal Adventure Squad by James Turner is a post from: TidyBooks - The Childrens Storage Solution.

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The Fudgy Bear books are aimed at pre-school children, and the range of titles includes ‘Count with Fudgy’,  ‘Fudgy goes to the Farm’, and are factual rather than a story.   What makes these books stand out is that they come with a very lovable teddy bear called Fudgy.  Children get to cuddle Fudgy bear while they read the book in which he features.

The idea is very simple,    Fudgy goes to the farm or the zoo, learns what the animals are, counts them, and says what colour they are.  There is a slightly formulaic feel to them, rather like Thomas the Tank Engine or Topsy and Tim.  The book that works best in this format is ‘Count with Fudgy’.  It’s a tried and test formula too, which goes down well with nursery age children.   The three year old has very much enjoyed counting the penguins with Fudgy, and doing the quizzes at the end of the story.

And of course, there’s the bear.  Fudgy was an instant hit, and has become part of the family of animals in our house, and the three year old had to fight off the seven year old for a while in a competition over who got the bear.   My three year old instantly ‘got’ that the bear and the books went together, saying “Fudgy likes to read about himself in a book.” And the seven year old, after reading the books said they were “good information books for learning about lots of different things.”

The Fudgy Bear books are great for building up knowledge of colours, animals, counting, and for getting the less eager young readers to sit down with a book, and a cuddly teddy.   Fudgy has also been part of a literacy campaign in London with the Evening Standard to help young children with difficulties with reading, along with Volunteer Reading Help. Fudgy Bear, I can imagine, could have a great impact  in encouraging young children to enjoy books.

You can find out more about Fudgy Bear books, devised by Sarah Marley here.

Fudgy Bear and his books were given to Tidy Books to review.   The views expressed are my own on behalf of Tidy Books.  Thanks to Sarah Marley for inviting us to review her books, and of course Fudgy Bear.

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In our house, the three year old has developed obsessions about the Traffic Club books, which are brilliant at teaching kids road safety, but very dull for the grown up to read again and again.   Other books that top my list of ones to hide are anything by Richard Scarry, and the Topsy and Tim and Berenstain Bears series.

I have to stress that my three year old loves them.  I think the appeal of reading about real life situations is very strong.   I do gather my patience and read them, but I have to admit to hiding them when we’ve read the same one every night for a week!

What books do your kids love, but make you groan (inwardly or outwardly) when they bring them out?  Do you hide them when you can’t take any more?  When you take them out of the kids’ bookcase, where do you hide them?

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYwaq6p75ik

Created by the Reading Agency, and rolled out in libraries, the Reading Challenge is great for enthusing sometimes reluctant readers, and not so reluctant readers, aged 4- 11 to keep up their reading out of school.  There is an added incentive of getting your certificate sent to your school, which is given out in assembly.

During the summer, most libraries have events to entice young readers in, and the Circus Stars website you can create your avatar (along the lines of Madison the Intrepid Balancer) , as well as play games, and there’s a place to leave your reading recommendations, and ask questions of the Ringmaster.   The seven year old gave the games a whirl, but wasn’t blown away by them, but that’s not really the point of Circus Stars.

Do your kids get involved with Summer Reading Challenges?  Does it engage them?  You can find your local library here

A quick look around the world on other summer reading projects or programmes has brought up these suggestions if you’re not in the UK, but perhaps you know of a better one?

The Collaborative Summer Reading Program in the US

The Chicago Public Libraries has one called Book Beats

and blogger An Ordinary Mom has some suggestions to find local ones, and one in Barnes and Noble Bookshops

And of course, if you’re in Australia, summer has been and gone.  How was your Reading Challenge?

Happy reading!

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Take flatulence as an example.  The mention of trumping in this house now that my son has ‘matured’ to six-and-a-half years old always raises a smile and a laugh.

However, despite the horrific nature of some of the things my son currently finds hilarious, it has actually lent to him finding new subjects to read about.

I have introduced him to the favourite comics of my childhood, the Beano and Dandy.  For an aspiring reader, with a limited attention span, comics like these are fabulous tools to encourage their reading engagement.

They are full of stories rather than competitions, quizzes and adverts like some children’s magazines.

Both comics are wonderfully illustrated, the dialogues are reasonable, and stories are generally only short, varying over a page or a couple of pages in length.

It’s been great to compare favourite characters, and also for me to return to these comics to see if they are still enjoyable to read, which indeed they are.

Dennis the Menace is still brilliant, and I still enjoy the antics of the Bash Street Kids.  However my son has different favourites.

The Bogies.

Yes, The Bogies.

Each story depicts the daydreams of a boy called ‘Alex’.  Whenever he picks his nose, he thinks of all the adventures his bogies might get into.

These stories feature such charming characters as Evel Knasal, Hot Snot and Gobzilla.

The tales are generally daft, and well planned out, and while the characters in question are all made from mucus, the actual things they get up to are not so disgusting and quite normal really.  Evel Knasal being late for work for example, and having to use his daredevil skills to get there on time.

One week the Dandy came complete with free Bogies stickers, and my son’s excitement was overflowing.

He wanted to make his own cartoons, and even made a montage to take into school and explain to his teacher and classmates what he was doing.

Very charming.

In a way.

And it looks like as he needs more challenging reading material there are books out there that can help.

I’ve been sent some of Steve Cole’s books.  He writes about The Slime Squad who are horrific mutated monsters than have evolved on a rubbish tip.   My favourite of his titles is The Slime Squad Vs The Cyber-Poos.

I am sure that will go down a storm with my son at some point.

But how about you?  Would you encourage your children to read material that you may find disgusting?  And, if so, what are their favourite vile stories?

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The first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was released in 1997 when I would have been around 20-years-old.  Not exactly the target audience I suppose, but then that didn’t stop vast swathes of people of all ages and backgrounds falling in love with these incredible books by J.K. Rowling.

Their success was, and still is, astounding.  Dispelling the previous common hold perception that children’s books would never have mass appeal.

I was always left a little confused.  I read the first book out of intrigue but to me it was clearly an excellent children’s book, but really not for me, an adult.

Not that I read very complex novels, Ben Elton was probably my favourite at that time, which says it all really.  But still, the tales of a young wizard were not for me.

But in our household my mother was absolutely gripped by them.  And was a little disappointed that nobody else in her immediate family was that bothered by them.

Skip forward 15 years and my son, now six-years-old, has become very interested in Harry Potter.  I think school pals have introduced him to Potter, and it has lead to lots of role play, and me watching him cast spells across the playground.

Whilst I enjoyed watching his Potter based play, part of me was thinking ‘bugger, I’m going to have to read the books to him.’

He really isn’t at the stage of reading novels himself.

I love reading to my child, but the thought of getting through a complete novel I didn’t like was a little daunting.

Then I remembered Grandma.

That picture was taken during the Easter holidays, where my son sat with his Nan for Harry Potter readings.  She read the first book to him over a week-long period.

Him never losing interest, and asking questions all the time.

They both really enjoyed the process, as did I watching and listening to them.

Only problem is now, he wants me to read the other six.

He may have to spend the summer at Grandma’s house.

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Orla Kierly like design

Spot it Again is like beautiful, graphic wallpaper.   Its is a series of visual puzzles, prompting children (and adults!) to look carefully to find the hidden creatures.  The patterns and graphics are Orla Kierly like, and they are also incredibly clever and witty.

This book made me think of childhood visits to older relatives houses, who tended to have wallpaper, and (perhaps a bit bored) looking for the patterns and tiny details, and making up stories about the things on the wallpaper.

The seven and the three year old both sat with me, carefully examining each page, and picking out the minute animal that is hidden in the pattern.  The book is probably a bit difficult for a three year old, as mine couldn’t find them, but he seemed captivated by the patterns.  The seven year old was still challenged, as there were some puzzles he couldn’t do right away.  He enjoyed the book more, I think, and has come back to it a few times over the week.

This is his favourite page

I think this is the sort of book you’d want to keep after the children have grown out of it, as it is gorgeous.

This book is just out in the UK, but has been available in the US and France for a couple of years.  What do you think?  Is it you or your kids who love this one more?  This of course, is a sequel to Spot It!

You can find it here on Amazon in the UK and the US, or support your local independent bookshop in the US or the UK!

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Nothing makes you feel more like a celebrity than a room full of children hanging on your every word. As a parent I have always loved reading to my own two children, and that pleasure is just as great each time I visit a school, a library or a book festival and engage with my young audience. What better job could there be?

I first started writing for children when my youngest was learning to read. Unlike my daughter who lapped up the alphabet with gusto, my son was more reluctant to take to words. I resorted to writing about his favourite thing in the world penguins! My first book, Pip Likes Snow, was a simple story that I hoped would get him hooked on reading.

Later, my daughter made a miniature school for her toys, with an upturned shoebox for a desk and tiny notebooks, pencils and paper set out for each pupil. One of the books she made was about 4cm square, with a little penguin drawn on the cover and a one-word title: PINK. “That’s a great title for a book!” I told her. “What’s it about?”

She explained that this penguin had woken up to find he had turned pink. The idea really caught my imagination, and I began to wonder how a penguin might feel in such calamitous circumstances. Imagine if he were a BOY penguin, how awful that would be! It was from this little kernel of an idea that my first full-size picture book was born.

After Pink was published, I received a very moving letter from the mother of a little girl with special needs in Vancouver. She told me she had discovered Pink on a trip to London, and bought several copies to take home with her. The story had great resonance for her daughter because, like Patrick the pink penguin, she was different from her peers and struggled to fit in. Patrick and his friends eventually learn that being different isn’t a bad thing, and in the end his pinkness is forgotten. For this reason, the little girl’s mother used Pink in her daughter’s classroom to engage the children in a discussion about diversity and tolerance.

When I first wrote the story of Patrick I had no intention of tackling the subject of diversity. The underlying message of Pink simply developed organically from the central dilemma that my daughter had given me! But the story of that little girl in Vancouver inspired me to create an educational resource that could be used in the classroom to help young children understand how it feels to be different, and how important it is to respect each other. Pink turned out to be the perfect vehicle for exploring these issues.

I hope in the two years since its inception, the Pink Project has contributed to changing children’s attitudes about those who don’t quite fit in. Despite differences of race, culture, language or ability, we all deserve respect and understanding. If my book can have even a small influence in that regard, I will feel blessed indeed.

Lynne Rickards is the author of six books for children:

Pip Likes Snow (illustrated by Belinda Worsley)

Jack’s Bed (illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw)

I Win! (illustrated by Melanie Williamson)

Pink! (illustrated by Margaret Chamberlain)

Jacob O’Reilly Wants a Pet (illustrated by Lee Wildish)

I Do Not Eat the Colour Green (illustrated by Margaret Chamberlain)

Lewis Clowns Around (illustrated by Gabby Grant) will be published by Floris Books in the autumn.

Links:

http://www.lynnerickards.co.uk/books.html

http://lynnerickardsauthor.wordpress.com

The Pink Project

http://www.lynnerickards.co.uk/pink.html

Lynne’s first book bag was launched as the Pink Project in 2009, and has sold widely in schools and libraries across the UK. She has since developed educational resources to complement her two subsequent books. The Pets bag and the Green bag have also proved popular. A white puffin bag (for Lewis Clowns Around) is currently in the works.

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Does it matter?  Do kids enjoy poetry?  For most children, their first experiences of books and speech are nursery rhymes and songs, giving them a sense of enjoyment and fun around words, and helping them to learn to speak.  My own children equate poems with humour, and enjoy Michael Rosen’s poems in particular, and love finding things to ryhme with ‘poo’ and ‘wee’.

There are some great opinion pieces on the importance of poetry: Hunger Mountain’s essay about making children’s poetry important to them by bringing it to them early and regularly, and making it an accessible part of the curriculum, while Poets.org makes the point that all children are natural poets until adolescence

Maybe too, as parents, we need to set the example?  I know that poetry would not necessarily be my own first choice over a novel, but I should try harder! Are parents guilty of imparting the impression that poetry is boring?

So, where to look for ideas for getting hold of funny poems.  Poet John Brassey, has a blog dedicated to short silly funny poems, and Ken Nesbitt also has a huge store of kids poems, book ideas and more.

Finally, Booktrust’s list of ten poetry books for kids to get you started, with favourites such as Michael Rosen, Roald Dahl’s Revolting rhymes and Allen Ahlberg.

What do you think?   Do you think it matters?  If money’s tight, should we concentrate on literature instead?  How do you get your kids interested in poetry?

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I have a distinct memory of being at my parents and discovering some of my old Mr Men books.  Favourites as a child – I even had their wallpaper! – and still favourites today.

Anyway, I remember finding these books again as I immediately wanted to read one to my son.  He was so small, still in need of support with all of his limbs, that positioning him correctly and still being able to hold the book was a very tricky task.

But still, I did it.  And he responded in his own way to the book, by belching or moving an eye-lid.

My point is, that ever since he can remember he has been read to.  We always read at bedtime but more often than not, during the day too.  Especially in the days before his official schooling started.

From what I’d read about children learning to read I surmised this could only be a good thing, and that it would set him up to be reading himself in good time.

I often saw quips in news reports that would say that children that are read to by parents at home, often do better with their own reading once at school.  Studies exist that suggest as such.

However in our experience, Max is now six, things have not panned out that way, and I find myself in the strange position of having a child that loves books, yet is a reluctant reader.

We have a nightly ‘argument’ about how many books we are reading, where I am the one reducing the number we read rather than having to encourage him to want more.

Our nigh-time routine usually incorporates his schoolbook, or something else he actually wants to read himself.  But he much prefers to be the one listening.

By reading to him I know I have increased his vocabulary, he can be very specific with his words and often can use different words to express the same thing.

Which actually can be a hindrance to his reading.  I think he is frustrated that he can’t read books he wants to straight away, and is also turned off by some of the very simple ‘story lines’ in the books sent home in his school bag.

He will often guess the lines in his book by looking at the pictures, or sometimes even from the first letter of each word.  Which is actually quite impressive if he gets to the same meaning of the original sentence, using only words that start with the same letters.

I am very relaxed about it, and perhaps naively am assuming that my son will eventually be a very keen and able reader.

Plus for now it means I still get to read to him a lot, something I hope to enjoy for as long as possible.

Does reading to a child guarantee success? is a post from: TidyBooks - The Childrens Storage Solution.

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This catch-all term describes children with a range of problems that are commonly faced by parents and teachers today. Reluctant readers can often perform the mechanics of reading, but choose not to. They do not usually have other learning difficulties. With a TV in the bedroom, computer games and social networking sites, our offspring have plenty to keep them engaged and entertained. But computer games and TVs in bedrooms tempt children away from reading, from practising a skill that, once learned, goes on to shape their lives.

Computer and TV screens may not be all that’s keeping them from becoming good readers. Some children are just not interested in reading stories, or in reading anything that’s more than a few sentences long. Even when they are older and have developed their reading skills, some children are still reluctant to read for more than a few minutes. They might skim-read magazines or factual texts, or search for specific information on Web sites – and these abilities do represent important skills – but for children to engage fully with more meaningful content, their curiosity needs to be aroused at an early age, or they will have a handicap that may be difficult to overcome in the later years.

All the latest research confirms that intervening early with young readers who are not attracted to books is essential. It is important for the rest of their lives that they become fluent in reading. Choosing the right books is the key to success with reluctant readers.

There is an incredibly rich choice of children’s literature in a range of genres, from ancient myths to stories of modern life. The key issue is to make the books accessible, and help children find relevance in what they read.

The trick is to pick something that will help them pursue something they are interested in. If they are interested in magic and folklore, dinosaurs and wildlife, space travel or fashion, there are many fascinating and well-illustrated factual books around – all potentially riveting reads.

But they do need to be riveting reads.  Youngsters for whom reading is any kind of hard work are only going to make the effort if they feel the book is worth the effort.

Increasingly popular are book collections specially designed for reluctant readers, which include titles from both mainstream and specialist publishers, with many from authors everyone is likely to recognise. Specialist publishers tend to focus on titles for readers whose reading age is lower than the interest age, which means that if you have a child who finds reading difficult, or one who isn’t yet ready to cope with long books, or even one who simply doesn’t latch on to the concept of books at all, you can try one of these. Each collection is labelled with its reading age and interest age.

Some specialist publishers and authors are past masters at convincing reluctant readers that books can be cool. Typically, their books are short, sharp and intriguing – skilfully written and edited with page turnability uppermost in mind.

Picking the right books that focus on titles that entertain, provide appealing subjects, and have readable, structured texts not only promote and build sustained interest but help improve self confidence in young readers.

Pandora Books has been a supplier of books for schools for over 20 years and provide specially compiled books collections to meet the criteria of the National Curriculum and the National Literacy Strategy.

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When a lightsaber fight is heading to being out of control, or when the noise level is such that you feel like you may never actually hear anything else again.

I have a sarcastic catchphrase for such moments, which is: “Why don’t we all recite poetry together?”

This is almost always met with derision, if indeed they even take me seriously, but does often start dialogue towards and more eloquent and tranquil activities.

But perhaps I should be so flippant with poetry, especially when dealing with young boys, I suppose I am lazily using an out-of-date stigma, that poetry is ‘boring’.

I was inspired by some of my own work as an eight-year-old.  My parents were recently having a sort out, and I was presented with this:

Now I am saying this is my own work, but I could have simply copied it from somewhere, and stuck my name to it.  I was not ever very studious.

However it got me thinking how I could expose my child to more poetry, more creativity, more to get him thinking.

A quick Google search for Children’s Poetry, yields a multitude of websites.  The first I click on was the Poetry Archive, which has poems for children, that are not only there to read they are also recorded as audio tracks to listen to.

The Children’s Poetry Book Shelf runs an annual UK contest run around National Poetry Day and if your children are inspired by entering a contest, or by reading other children’s work, then this is a good site to look at.

I also recalled my son, like all children in England, receiving The Puffin Book of Fantastic First Poems, sent to him by the Booktime initiative.

So there are loads of resources available, and, for us, it is a case of getting into the habit and introducing poetry to our everyday lives.

Is poetry something your children are interested in?  Or would you like them to be?

Any tips for working with children and poetry would be gratefully received.

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The goodies inside included two quality books, some colouring pencils and paper, and some reading ideas for parents.   All for free.  This is part of the national bookgifting scheme Bookstart, run by Booktrust, that gives all babies and children free books to help inspire a love of reading.

My three year old has been delighted with the chest, hanging on to it grimly, in the face of varied attempts by his older brother to take into his possesion, and has been storing other bits of ‘treasure’ in it too.    The books are always welcome, and have been added to our large stack of books at home, which also makes me aware that for other children, these Bookstart books may be some of the few that they own.   Which makes it all the more disappointing/disgraceful that the Bookstart scheme has been scrapped recently, although the recent reaction to this has made the government do a U-turn.  I can only hope that the new bookgifting scheme will be as progressive and civilised in its ambitions.

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They’ve graduated  from picture books to chapter books,  from toddler bed to bunk bed, and they don’t want to tell you what they did at school today.  When children begin to read to themselves, it can be a challenge to find books for them that give them something to get their teeth into, and yet which have plot lines that are easily comprehended.

So, when they’re snuggled up in their bunk beds, what new books can you put on their Bunk Bed Buddy? We’ve put a guide together based on our experience as parents (and Tidy Books colleagues) that can help you in your quest to find great books for 5-7 year olds.

As always, one of the best places to start is your local library.   The librarians should be able to give you advice about what new readers can tackle.  But it can be daunting to know where to start looking on the shelves especially if you’re short of time.  One of the best things to get from the library are the audio books.  Audio books are great for long car journeys and kids seem to understand a more complex story better when its read to them.

Another good starting point is a book of short stories.  Puffin does an excellent series of ‘Stories for 5 year olds‘ and ‘Stories for 6 year olds’ and so on (US, UK).  The collection of different authors brought together by Wendy Cooling gives you and your child a feeling for who they might like to read more of, and there is a mix of traditional tales as well as ones written by established children’s authors such as Penelope Lively and Geraldine McCaughrean. My six year old was helpless with giggles at one story about some children making an incredible mess and mischief, in a story called ‘Making pancakes when my mother was out’ by Paddy Kinsale.

Roald Dahl is a firm favourite with most children, and with films and museums dedicated to his stories, there are few children who will get through childhood without reading at least one or two.   My six year old always returns to his favourite Roald Dahl stories when he’s run out of other books, such as ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ (US, UK)and ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’ (US, UK).

Stories about animals seem to appeal to girls and boys.  Some of our favourites have been ‘Dear Hound’ by Jill Murphy (US, UK), a lively, unsentimental book written from the point of view of the hound, called Alfie.  The series of ‘Daisy’ books by Kes Gray are laugh out loud funny, and boys and girls should well enjoy them too (US, UK). Despite the books featuring girls, my six year old boy has zoomed his way through The Worst Witch series also by Jill Murphy (US, UK) (now on TV too), and Airy Fairy written by Margaret Ryan (US, UK).  Continuing on the magical theme, the Oliver Moon series by Sue Mongredien (US, UK)about a trainee wizard are a nice precursor to Harry Potter, and have the essential kid’s story ingredients of magic and schools.

Michael Morpurgo, Anne Fine, Philip Pullman, Roddy Doyle and Jeremy Strong are also great kids authors to look out for.

For parents worried about how to get their boys enthused about reading, there are series of books targeted at boys,  such as Beast Quest by Adam Blade which are fantasy adventures about strange beasts(US, UK) and Astrosaurs by Steve Cole which are fantasy adventures involving flying dinosaurs (US, UK) that seem to bring out the competitive element in boys; who’s read most!   There are equivalents targeted at girls involving ice skating and kittens.  They’re ubiquitous, not terribly well written,  and you’ll be hard pressed to stop your kids picking them up.

Most kids love stories about bad behaviour, and Horrid Henry (US, UK) and  Captain Underpants (US, UK)  fulfill that brief with aplomb.  They’re also genuinely funny, and I like reading them too!

Plunder your old childhood shelves if you still have them.  ‘Clever Polly and The Stupid Wolf’ by Catherine Storr (US, UK) is a witty take on traditional wolf stories. Lion Witch and Wardrobe by C S Lewis (US, UK) is the obvious classic, but probably a bit advanced for 7 year olds, but they may enjoy the film tie in.   Another one that my six year old enjoyed was Charlotte’s Web (US, UK) which appeals to both girls and boys.

This is by no means an exhaustive list.   What do your kids enjoy?  Can you recommend any?

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His school books, whilst I am sure excellent learning resources for the budding reader, can be terribly uninteresting, and as a parent I do try to stress to him how brilliant reading can be.  In the hope that his reading motivation does not subside.

It is one of the very reasons I ever got involved with Tidy Books, buying one of their children’s bookcases and now finding myself helping with their social media.

Having a collection of books he really takes ownership of is all part of my grand reading encouragement plan.  If you don’t believe me see Hands off my Bookcase

It is generally accepted here that boys can struggle more with reading than girls, and I know this is something both myself, and Geraldine – the originator and owner of Tidy Books – can relate to.

So to both of us it is important that our boys find joy in books, no matter what they are.

Emile, Geraldine’s boy, after being introduced to them at school, has recently become obsessed with the Berenstain Bears.  Not a series either I or Geraldine were immediately familiar with.

Perhaps you are?

Anyway, books were secured from the World Wide Web and Emile’s love for them is growing, check him out below.

So perhaps his current choice of favourite book was quite clear to him, and his mum, but it was not so obvious in this house.

Max tends to flit from book-to-book, each becoming flavour of the moment for a few days to then be updated with a brand new favourite.

If I was going to guess I would have gone for one of the Mr Men series, as we do seem to stick with them longer than most, and our bedtime reading can be provided by them for days on end.

But no.

On this occasion, another book, and another person was flavour of the week.

Daddy Hug is one of my favourites from his collection.  It has very simply rhyming text, and effectively compliments a father, coming to an end with ‘Daddy Hug”, which invariably ends up with a warmer final embrace of the day than usual.

I take it as a sign of my stock as to the frequency this is read, perhaps I shouldn’t, but I do.

And I was very proud when he took this to school to share with his teacher and peers.

What books would your kids choose?

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I know one of the huge benefits of this wonderful bookcase is that it really encourages children to engage with their books, and also with its smart design makes it far easier for a child to retrieve and put back a book without fuss.

After buying one, I’ve witnessed that process work first hand.

However.

When Geraldine designed the first one for her own daughter, I am unsure if she even thought that these fabulous children’s bookcases would be things that parents would find themselves banned from using.

Well, that’s exactly what has happened to me.

Banned.

Banned from a child’s bookcase.

And check out how serious he is about it.

It is a ban I am taking seriously, for fear of the physical repercussions for one thing.

But actually, it is something I am absolutely delighted to be banned from.

I think one of the major ways to encourage children to read is to allow them the freedom to chose exactly what they want to read, rather than to force them to read something a parent, or teacher, deems more ‘appropriate’.

Granted sometimes I put something in front of my child that he wouldn’t have picked up himself, but generally I do so as it is something I think he will enjoy, or that I feel he has overlooked.

In the main it is his choice what books we enjoy.

I don’t know if it is working, but I love being put on my chair next to his bed to wait for him to choose his night-time reading.

OK, I don’t always play ball, and sometimes make a break for the bookcase, but that only adds to the fun aspect of our bedtime stories.

The only problem I can see with this, is if my son decides to extend my ban to our Tidy Books Box, in which case I have no idea where I will store – or get to – my copies of Private Eye magazine!

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It is certainly amongst my to-do items, and I shall also be casting my attention to my son’s summer reading soon.

Reading throughout the impending school holidays can be of enormous benefit.  As well as keeping children in the good habit of reading, the extra freedom of reading exactly what they want to, can turn a possible chore into a positive joy.

That’s the hope of the Reading Agency, who will soon be releasing their Summer Reading Challenge.

Libraries from all over the country will be involved in rewarding children for their reading throughout the summer.

The challenge for children aged between 4 and 11 is simple, read six or more books of their choice.

They will be incentivised by receiving collectable items and rewards along the way, with certificates and medals for all that complete the challenge successfully.

This year’s theme is space, and has been called Space Hop.  Children will be boldly going where no one has been before, as they continue to nurture a life-long love of reading books through an exciting galaxy.

As well as having a tangible Space Hop pack, there is also an interactive website linking children with top authors and illustrators, and giving them the chance to share and discuss their favourite books and reading tips.

My local library will be registering children from the 10^th of July, and you should get in touch with your local library to see how and when you can get involved.

And how should we put together a quality reading list?

Well of course children can look for books they have yet to read from their favourite authors, but if you’re at a library already, it is a good idea to make use of the experts at your disposal.

Terry wrote an excellent post on the Booklights blog about how to make a great summer reading list.  As well as exploiting initiatives such as Space Hop, libraries are an excellent resource for putting together a book list.

Based on age, author, or even subject.  If you have a passion for bugs, or princesses, then it is the experts at the library, who will be able to point you in the direction of books about, or containing, your favoured subject.

So will your children be taking up the challenge? Or were yours some of the 750,000 to benefit from this initiative last year?

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Here is a list of a few reading initiatives for children.

The National Literacy Trust is a great place to start.   This is a trust that believes that improved literacy can genuinely improve people’s lives.  I would not argue with that.

They operate numerous projects.  Gaining funding from the Department of Education, Early Reading Connects aims to strengthen literacy development in the under fives.

After government figures recorded that boys’ performance was lower than their female peers, Reading Champions was created to increase boys’ enjoyment of their reading.

Reading for Life is also borne of the National Literacy Trust.  And this was set up to encourage everyone to read.  Promoting the benefits of reading to all ages.

Booktrust is an independent UK-wide charity dedicated to encouraging people of all ages to enjoy books.  It operates a large number of specific initiatives and partners with Reading for Life and the Arts Council.

Bookstart is its national programme concerned with encouraging children from the earliest possible age.  One of its main aims is to provide a free pack of books to every baby in the UK.

Booked Up is a similar scheme that aims to give a free book to every child starting secondary school in England.

Booktime concerns itself with the children between these two age brackets.  And my own son was very pleased to receive his free Booktime books and bag during his first school year.

Another independent charity inspiring more people to read is The Reading Agency.  They do a lot of work with public libraries and throughout the summer will again be running its Summer Reading Challenge.

The idea of this initiative is to encourage children to continue reading throughout the lengthy school holidays, and to help kids turn their reading from a chore to a pleasure.

An initiative that they run all the time is Their Reading Future.   Working in partnership with libraries, supporting them to deliver the best possible reader development programmes.

The Scottish Book Trust aims to inspire readers and writers.  And what four year-old would not be delighted with an explorer backpack?

In America Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has really taken off.  The idea of this initiative is that each community provides every child with a free book every month until they turn five.

A project that many communities have bought in to after its initial launch and success in Dolly’s home county in east Tennessee.

It is spreading into Canada, and also parts of the UK.  You can go and see if there is an affiliate near you here.

Another stateside project I have stumbled upon is Reach Out and Read.  This not-for-profit organisation aims to promote school readiness by providing new books to children and advice to parents via America’s network of paediatric exam rooms.

But what wonderful initiatives am I missing?

And I would love to read about any positive impacts reading initiatives have had.

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I am somewhere in the middle of those two groups.  I enjoy watching football, and usually a major football tournament would be of great interest to me.  But my interest this time has only really been ignited by ways in which my son is engaging with it.

The stubbornness within my son’s personality means that it is a much more joyous thing to let him choose a topic to aid his learning and development, than force him down a road he is reluctant to travel.

It seems this is true of a lot of children, especially boys, as they start their formal learning lives.

I did not expect it to, but at the moment the World Cup really has my son’s attention, and I have been looking at ways of making the most of that.  I haven’t had to look too hard, as my son has found ways of doing that himself.

He was given a Panini World Cup sticker book.  And he has enjoyed looking for the numbers that correspond with the stickers he has got, and has been slowly populating his new treasured sticker book.  Regardless of who the player actually is the number is all important to him, which is great.

Older children at his school have been collecting Match Attax cards, some of which have been kind enough to give their duplicates to my son.  He thinks the few he has got are great, and has been using them to learn how to spell names of countries, and also as guides for when he is drawing footballers from the respective teams.

His drawings have been brilliant, using different colours for the different teams.  Replicating national badges and flags, and coming up with scorelines for most of the scenes we have both drawn.  England always seem to score 10, he still has a lot to learn obviously.

During England’s first appearance in the tournament he and a couple of his friends made flags and footballers on sticks.  They had great fun, barely paying any real attention to the game – not that they missed anything, unlike England’s goalkeeper.

Then last night, with a little help from CITV’s Share-a-Story contest, using their template, he started his own World Cup cartoon.  Which included drawing and writing in speech bubbles.

Yesterday really was a ‘football’ day as he wanted to conclude it with a football story at bedtime.  I had to think quickly (no mean feat) if we had one, then I remembered that Roger Hargreaves’ Mr Cool, from the Mr Men series, includes a footballer and he was more than happy with my choice.

I am delighted that my son is engaging with the World Cup in such positive ways, and not just kicking a ball about, which he is enjoying doing too.

Has it been the same in your house, and do you have any more ideas for me?

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This is something I’ve thought about a lot, probably too much, as I have introduced books into my son’s life.

My general parenting philosophy has always been to be as honest as possible with him, and even when I know the answer may be upsetting, or even if my explanation may be a little difficult for him to grasp at his age, I have still stuck to the honesty behind my policy.

Like if he queries: “Do I have to?”

My reply often starts with ‘no’ but going on to explain the consequences if he doesn’t, or my case as to why I believe he should do something.

With reading, or with books, there was enjoyment there from the start, and that is something I never want to sap away, as to me, that’s the key to wanting to read.

Which is why I was a little perturbed when the pressure started from school, for my boy to start to read for himself, rather than letting me do it.

He found this frustrating, like I’m sure many children do, a mixture of not being able to do it straightaway, and not being given a choice of books, or any that where anywhere near as appealing as the ones in his own collection.

I must admit to being tempted to entice him into reading his school books with bribery, but thought better of it.

My fear being that spurring a child to read with other rewards, or treats, implies that reading is a necessary evil, rather than a joy itself.

Instead I listened and sympathised with him, agreeing with his angst about some of the dross he had been given to read, but tried to motivate him to read them by explaining how many literal doors reading competence can open, and how wonderful reading can be given the choice of material.

Either policy carries an amount of risk, and indeed, can mean very different things in the short, and longer terms.

Joyce Grant, who writes the excellent Getting Kids Reading blog wrote about using a rewards system to get reluctant readers to read.

KidsCash is an earning and redemption system, where children get ‘cash’ for doing jobs that their parents want them to do, which can then be redeemed for things they want, like toys or TV time.

I commented as to why I thought this was possibly dangerous, and I am glad that I did, as Joyce reminded me that parenting is not a one-cap-fits-all scenario, even citing an example where paying a child to read can work.

However I recalled the impending report of Michael Norris, an American publishing expert, who is recommending that reading should not be considered a chore, or good behaviour.

But as I hope I’ve demonstrated, parenting is not perhaps an exact science, and it is the outcomes that we are all interested in rather than the means at any one given time.

Have you ‘bribed’ a child to read?  Or would you ever consider doing so?

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Sometimes this is a very quick process, like on days when we have already discussed what to read at bedtime, or if we have played along a theme featured heavily in one of his books during the day.  Like if we’ve played with dinosaurs, popular bedtime stories then become things like Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs or Dinosaurs Love Underpants.

At other times, the process can seem to take a disproportionate amount of time, as my son refuses to choose, and also refuses any of my suggestions.

We commonly read two books each bedtime, adding more for good behaviour and if time allows.  I do reduce reading down to one if there is reason to limit his reading, like a late bedtime, or poor behaviour.  Luckily instances like that are relatively rare, as to this point, I have chosen to run to a reasonable rigid schedule and the boy generally knows where my lines of good behaviour are.

I have also been mindful, increasingly so, to let my child choose what we are going to read.  I really want him to enjoy reading, and I think a big part of that is being allowed complete freedom when it comes to choosing literature.

My focus on this was heightened recently, when I read a report, that pointed out that well meaning parents can actually have a negative effect on a child’s reading.

However, my boy, such is his giving nature, likes to allow me to ‘choose’ a book to read.

So, when we have two books, the principle is that he chooses one, and I choose the other.

Great idea, except my son reserves the right of veto.  Which means my choice is actually limited to going through the list of his books, until I land on one he wants to be read to, or have a go at himself.

This irritates me a little, and at times I have said to him; “Why do you even ask me to choose?” to which I get a beautiful and all knowing grin.

We both really know he is in control of choosing what he reads, and long may it continue.

But, who chooses the books in your house?  And do your kids do the same thing to you?

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I have always enjoyed being consumed by a book, getting totally absorbed by what I am reading that I ignore everything around me, and appear zombie like to everyone else.

Sadly, I am nowhere near as cute as this wondrous child when I bump into people, totally engrossed in what I am reading.

Since becoming a parent, my novel reading has dropped off to a near snails pace, as I have struggled to cope with accepting that children are just not as susceptible to ignorance as adults are.

But I need to embrace interruption if I am going to re-engage with books, at any other time than that of when I am completely on my own.

And further to that, I have been interested to read how distraction can be a positive thing, especially with children, as they learn to read.

My son is very easily distracted, and his concentration span is thus very limited.

It is all part of a very active mind, and an unquenchable thirst for understanding and enjoyment.

Means we have to make reading more than that, reading often ends, or is interrupted by us picking out our favourite characters, ranking them in some way or guessing how a book may turn out.

But what of consistent, and deliberate distraction to quell and help concentrate an active mind?

When I read about dealing with a moving audience, on the Booklights blog, I was interested in the parts relevant to my child’s age, and also mindful to keep in thought the ideas for his future years.

There are some top tips there of how to deal with those that may wander, in mind, as well as physically.

But do you deliberately distract your children?

Does bouncing a ball, listening to music, or anything else help focus their attention better, and actually end up assisting with their reading?

Positive distraction from reading is a post from: TidyBooks - The Childrens Storage Solution.

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It is reassuring when you do read ideas, and pick up tips, when they are things you already do, seemingly without guidance, naturally so to speak.

Like, in my case, I have always encouraged my child to read what he likes, asked about things we are discovering together in books, and highlighted how an ability to read can be useful in other ways, not limiting reading to books.

But there are also times when I see advice, and think, what a simple idea, why have I not thought of doing that before?

Subtle changes, easy to adopt, and perhaps, even techniques adopted for other aspects of parenting, without realising they could be useful things to do to encourage your own little bookworm too.

I have always been a fan of leading by example, and certainly that actions speak louder than words. Which I suppose, on the face of it, means we need actions to encourage the consumption of the written words.

Children like to imitate adults, especially those closest to them, so of course it is a glaringly good idea to have children see that you enjoy reading for yourself, rather than simply concentrate on reading to them, or listening to them read to you.

As beneficial as that it, it must also be a good idea to be a model reader.

Great in principle, but I’ve found, while I read a lot, it is mainly limited to that on my computer screen, and that in my child’s books when he is around.

As I like to be consumed by a book, I tend to read them when my son is not awake, or is in the care of others.  Fearing interruption of my reading will turn it into an annoyance.

But I have decided I am not following my own ideas, and why should I limit my leisure reading – of printed material – to books alone?

For that reason I have bought my first copy of Private Eye for a good many years, and I hope this will lead me down other literal roads.  With the overall aim of having material I can pick up, and read snippets of, or get consumed by if the situation allows, all of which can be witnessed by my offspring.

I have also been on the look out for books with short chapters, so having to start one over again is only a minor irritant.

Fingers crossed these things will contribute to my son continuing a healthy relationship with books, and I look forward to the day we can sit and ignore each other, with heads in our respective books.

How about you? Are you an unwitting model reader?

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I have always wondered how I can affect my son’s potential love of reading, writing previously about my own childhood reading exploits, hoping for a different outcome for my boy.

How much I can actually impact his possible love of books is not exactly quantifiable, but I like to think I have carefully considered my overall approach to reading in our lives to positive effect.

Since my child started school in September, and as mentioned in my opening line, my own appraisal of personal involvement in his reading has carried increased focus.  Due to the fact that the introduction of school brings the evolvement of the ‘reading books’ process, and therefore a method of dealing with them as entities at home.

I have never been entirely keen on some aspects of school reading books, fearing that the monotony of this process, and the somewhat forced direction of reading, could have an overall negative effect, much as I believe it had with me in my latter schooling.

I was interested to read an article published in The Observer this weekend, that is reporting on an American publishing expert, who is expected to advise parents not to force their children into reading what, they as parents, would like them to.

Michael Norris is expected to include evidence in the monthly Book Publishing Report that well-meaning parents can actually have a negative impact on their children picking up a healthy reading habit.

Norris says that parents have too much of say in deciding what a child reads, and if children are always led to books, rather than choosing them themselves, it really will turn them off.

He also argues that books should not be talked about with “work words” and not be stereotyped as being good, when things like video games are deemed as bad.  Suggesting that rewarding children for reading with other things actually undervalues reading, making it a necessary evil rather than a practice as pleasurable or enjoyable as the rewards some parents offer.

Which reassured me that my bedtime stories protocol, of making books a slightly under rewarded treat, may actually be the right way to go.

The Observer article makes for very interesting reading, and concludes with a concise list of the great tips for parents that Norris has come up with.

One of which is not to enthuse too much on what you, as a parent, enjoyed as a child, reading should be a personal experience, and we should rely on the professionals, such as librarians and books sellers, when it comes to a child choosing their next book, rather than force feeding treasures from our own childhoods.

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‘Half of all parents too busy to read a bedtime story to children’ Read the article headline, published earlier this month in the Daily Mail.

The story was based on research compiled on behalf of Silentnight, themselves hoping to promote their own ‘Book at Bedtime’ competition.  1,000 parents were quizzed about reading to their children at bedtime, and although 97 per cent agreed that reading to children before bedtime was of developmental benefit, only 53 per cent confirmed that they did, in fact, read to their children at this time.

Most parents that said they did not read to their children, said that they did not do so, based on being too embarrassed to read out aloud to them.  The study also revealed that half of the children under 12 watch DVDs in bed

This, in isolation, is a worrying figure, but I am unsure that 1,000 parents being questioned is enough to gain a real idea of how many children are read to at bedtime across the county, and is possibly sensationalist to offer a headline saying that half of ALL children are not read to before lights out.

I certainly hope that the reality is much brighter to that recorded by this research, but have looked back to a blog post I wrote in October, based on the annual study compiled for Booktrust, which found DVDs increasingly popular amongst older children at bedtime.

For me, as a parent, bedtime reading has always felt right, but I can sympathise with parents that feel uneasy with reading out aloud, I’ve been self conscious in the presence of visitors, and on the odd occasion I have had to read in public, but really, what is the bigger issue?

Reading to a child is obviously of immense benefit, and the joy in watching a child revel in being read to, and then reading themselves, is something every parent should enjoy.  It really should be, and is, a parent’s privilege.

Inspiration is all around us, not only in the faces, ears and mouths of our children, but if you need further encouragement, look no further than Jim Brozina, and his daughter Kristen from Millville, New Jersey.

Mr Brozina and his youngest daughter, enjoyed a nine year ‘streak’ of reading together each night.

Inspired by the failure to continue reading to his eldest daughter once she had learnt to read herself, the elementary school librarian decided to not make the same mistake again.  Initially setting himself and his youngest daughter the target of reading for 100 nights on-the-trot, which then became 1,000, and so on.

A truly wonderful story, and hopefully one virtually replicated all over the World, between parent and child.

I am unsure where we are in our streak, but it is incredible rare of us to have a night without reading.

But how about you? Can you beat Mr Brozina?

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But if you do want some science for that argument, you could do a lot worse than start in the National Literacy Trust’s resource section.

As a budding parent, or even as an aspiring one, it just felt important to attempt to encourage any offspring of mine to enjoy reading, right from the very beginning.

When my child was very small, baby to toddlering, we would have the traditional story books, touch and feel types, pop-up classics, sticker books, and some other, perhaps, less traditional reading material.

My little fellow demonstrates that much better in picture, here.

But instilling a love of reading has been very important to me as my son’s parent.

So why would I even think about limiting it?

Well, my argument – which I believe to be especially true when handling boys – is that they will desire something that they get just that little bit too little of, rather than that they get in spades.

It is perhaps a risky strategy, and not for everyone, but at the moment it certainly feels like it is a process that is working.

Bed time is the regular time for us to be reading here, as I am sure it is in other homes, not exclusively confined to this particular time of day, but almost without fail a book of some kind is read shortly before lights out.

However it is the negotiation beforehand that I am going to refer to.

It has been a long time ritual of ours to actually have dialogue about the number of books that are going to be read during bed time.  Rewarding an earlier bed time, or excellent behaviour, with a higher number of books.  And conversely, not rewarding the opposite.

This is a process I have a lot of fun doing, and aids my boy in all sorts of ways, our cheeky nature means that I always start at one, and he always starts at some ridiculous number, from which playful mediation then occurs.

Compromise is always gained, more often than not at two, but my son would sit and listen until his batteries totally run out.

Which, I believe, in part, is due to the fact that I always aim to read one book too few, rather than one book too many.

This process is definitely a fun one for us, which is what reading should be.

But I would love to hear the argument for limitless reading, and experiences of other parents, or from your own childhood memories.

So, would my approach have worked on you, or is this something that you think will back fire?

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Thinking back I have very strong, and very vivid, memories of enjoying books as a child.  Memories include taking books on holiday with me, and reading them at night, even after all the excitement of  the day, days that would usually have included a multitude of activities, making new friends and, at times, perhaps, the odd bit of mischief.

But even after all those highs, I would enjoy coming back to my night time reading, and look forward to the visions that my mind would create based on what I was reading.

It was also at this time that I first discovered that reading can be so much more fun than television, or film.  I had a book based on the children’s cartoon series M.A.S.K. The images I came up with while reading it, in my own grey matter, were always better than the actual episodes I numbed myself with on television.

However, somewhere along the way, I lost my love of reading, and looking back I think I can start to perhaps pinpoint where, and why.

I now believe it was during high school, which, twenty years ago (wow) was when school felt like it was getting serious.

A proper timetable, homework, a diary to record homework, targets, tests and reports.

All these things turned me off education, and while I did not struggle at school, I did not thrive within its environment, and my love of reading was lost to the labour of reading what I was told to, and to; READ IT BETTER.

It was not until I left school, again on holiday – one very different to the ones we used to enjoy as a family – that a friend handed me a book they had just finished; Popcorn by Ben Elton.  And after reading it, in what seemed like hours, my love for books was reignited.

My hand luggage on any holiday after that would always be dominated by books, at an almost one-per-day-of-vacation ratio.   And I would always have a book on-the-go at home, without finding the time to read them at such at perhaps such a ferocious pace.

Now with my son starting school this September, I can, sadly, see him going through a similar process, it is already happening in his first formal year of schooling.

My son loves books, or being read to certainly, he gets very excited when I increase the number I am going to read to him based on his positive behaviour, and that fills me with joy.

What fills me with dread is when he says things like; ‘I MUST read this tonight, as I HAVE to get to the end of this level, to get onto the next’.

Laboured, rushed reading, ignoring his learning ability, and certainly his joy of learning and words.

What is more depressing is that this is seemingly a global issue, with parents feeling the world over, that children are under increasing pressure from a ridiculously young age, to achieve certain targets, with little regard to the impact this is having on the individual.

The Book Chook gave, what I believe, to be an excellent response to a letter she received from a worried parent.  A parent concerned that their child is not at the right level of reading.

I appreciate there has to be a balance, but, in my opinion, a love of reading conquers being on red, green level or having a ‘reading age’ surpassing the years since your birth.

But, what do you think, and have you experienced similar?

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Like many other parents, it seems I am constantly pulling at the few hairs of creativity I have left, in a constant search to find new things to do at home, ones that I can engage my child with, activities that hopefully have other benefits than merely plugging up time.

The winter is much more difficult than the summer, partly as outdoor activities are more limited, and because, well it certainly feels like, children have more days stuck at home with colds.  Or in very recent times, days at home, with the country at a snowy standstill.

But like an irritating business person a wise man once said to me, and many others for that matter, every problem is an opportunity.

In cases with children, more time with them is very much a bigger picture blessing, as it is with aiding them in certain disciplines, practices that will bode well for their future.

Reading is one of the obvious things to do, when we have limited, or are limited by our resources.  That is one of its beauties, reading can be done anywhere and by many means, a good reason it is a top choice, or should be, when options are actually unlimited.

I wrote previously about engaging children in literature without words, a concept not always well understood, nor emphasised eloquently enough – certain not by me – but I believe, it makes sense that story making starts with understanding the concept of what ‘a story’ actually is.

Which, is of course, anything you want it to be.

This brings me to a blog post I recently read over at The Book Chook.  A post including some wonderful links to some great sites, that help children, assisted by their parents, put together story books themselves.

Like The Book Chook says, it is a great way of exploring, and exposing children, to the link between reading and writing.

The link I picked up on, took me to bookr, which is an on-line tool by pimpampum.  I was led there, as my child is only just of school age, but those with older children, may want to try Glogster, which seems like a great resource, but where child supervision is still recommended.

Failing that, there is nothing wrong with pencil and paper, that is, unless the former needs sharpening.

This is what I came up with on bookr, it took me a little while to get my photos onto Flickr, the site it uses for uploading photos.  But armed with the experience of creating one book, I am sure any further ‘published’ works would not take as long.

You do not actually have to use your own photos, you can use tag words to search Flickr for photos relevant to the book you are creating.

Anyway, here is what I created.  You can flick through the pages by clicking on the very top left corner, or very bottom right corner of the images.  And failing that, you can go straight to an easy to control version by clicking on the link below the book.

A Little Bored by Ian Newbold

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People who know me would argue that I do like to take centre stage, but it is only really true if there is no script, and I am in the company of people in which I have embarrassed myself previously.

Like many others, I can get nervous, especially if there are words to be read aloud from notes, or definite thing I must say or cover, before I get booed off.   I can get very bumbly, and read words incorrectly and in the wrong order.

And this is even after practice, rather than reading things aloud for the first time, in front of others.

When my son was a pre-schooler, one of the playgroups we attended would call upon the carers to take turns in reading a story to all the children, as they sat nicely during their snack time.  The idea to somewhat keep them calm, before they went off racing around the place again, once all the food and drink was tidied away.

This led, to the occasions I could not avoid it, to me reading some books I had never seen previously, aloud, to group of baying little ones, and their parents.  Perhaps not the most difficult audience ever, but terrifying all the same.

Reading to my own son has always been enjoyable, and I have got to the point of not really caring who is listening to us, and our mistakes.

I do find myself really concentrating if the book is more challenging than usual, or one we have not read in the past.

Making errors can also be funny – certainly is to a five year-old boy – and after making one, I then tend to make them deliberately, to see if I can get him to laugh, or notice my deviations.

It is also really funny to hand a book to someone who is not used to reading aloud, perhaps those friends and relatives without children, or ones now old enough to find they better enjoy reading themselves.

When I am in a particularly playful mood, I will hand a book to one of our ‘guest readers’ on the basis of it being difficult to pronounce some of the words, rhymes or passages.

Books about dinosaurs are very good for this devilish pursuit, and the holidays confirmed it.  My son and I had ample opportunity, and willing victims, to test it out on.

I am not going to write how one of our friends pronounced diplodocus, but you can imagine it was pretty funny, and I suppose, a little naughty at the same time.

They then took the lead to pronounce all the dinosaurs in my son’s book incorrectly.  Which he partly found hilarious, and was also good for him to be able to correct.

So, have you suffered, or I should say, enjoyed similar with your broods?

What is the funniest thing you have mispronounced to your children?

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There were obviously such things as the school play, or carol service that happened every year, which I would be cajoled into taking some role within.

A trip to visit Santa was also pretty much mandatory amongst the busy weeks of December.

I can distinctly remember going along to our local Co-op, who every year, would install a machine that conned you into thinking you had taken a sleigh ride to see Father Christmas, when, of course, in reality you had just stepped out of the other door of the pneumatically operated sleigh-ride-simulator.

That is a rather cynical view in hindsight,  and my memories are actually very happy ones, I used to enjoy the magic of the illusion, and it was so well run, you even got to ‘ride’ the sleigh back to the store, complete with whatever Santa, or the decision makers of Co-op, had deemed you worthy.

One of the reasons for making those yearly trips was to let Santa know what you would like for Christmas, what your favourite toy or wish was at the moment.  We also used to write a list that my parents would send up the chimney of our open fireplace, all very festive and warm.

Amongst all the things I would list, I knew there was something I was going to receive regardless of its inclusion or omission, and that was the Beano and Dandy Annuals.

My mother received them herself as a child, and it was a tradition she wanted to continue, and one I very much enjoyed too.

And rather than it completely stopping as a young adult, the Beano and Dandy were replaced with the Viz derivate, much more appropriate to my then post-teenage addled mind.

A quick search on Amazon has revealed that the Beano – my favourite of the two – is still amongst the top ten children’s annuals.  However, it is the only one that originates from comics within the best selling ten.

The others are from popular TV series, films, and books made even more popular by TV.  Doctor Who, Top Gear, Ben 10 and Horrid Henry are all presently in there, as is Hannah Montana.

I eagerly await to see if I get one of these annuals this Christmas, and I feel it is something I should appraise for my own child, perhaps extending our family Beano tradition another generation.

But what about you, what annuals will be on your children’s bookcases?

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The harsh, yet joyous arrival of a newborn, quickly established to me that I would not be reading to my child in a rush, reading would just have served as an unwelcome interruption to their sleeping, eating and crying cycle.

However, their development, and yours as a parent, is swift, and it was not long before I was reading soft picture books.  I also distinctly remember reading a Mr Men book to him when he was only a few months old, but this was more for me, and practise for the future.

A future that quickly evolved to fold-out books, touch-and-feel books and then to regularly reading all kinds of literature to my child, including tractor magazines.

I have always thought reading to a child, reading anything, was a positive thing, not really thinking a great deal about why, but while both parties enjoy it so much, why it was great was not really of huge concern.

It did not really cross my mind that I was teaching my child anything specifically, or actually impacting on him learning to read.  Enjoyment and a love of books are what I was after.

Then school starts, and reading becomes more formalised, as it should.  His reading books are intended exactly as titled, for him, rather than anyone else, to read.

I was a little surprised to find the first stage of learning to read, or the first series of books in this instance, were books without words.

My first feelings were of a little bafflement.  How are you supposed to learn to read without having anything to read?

But the question I should have been asking, and was eventually led to, was; How can you be expected to learn to read stories when you do not know what a story is, or how they are constructed?

Not all the parents agreed with this method, and some were immediately pushing for books that more closely resembled the type of literature their children were used to at home.

I was happy for my son to re-establish the structure of books, and I am also a firm believer that if you are given less to work with, then your creativity is encouraged.

One of these wordless books was titled ‘Stripes’, a sequence of pictures with stripes in various forms.  Such as in patterns, flags and on animals – like Zebras.

A ridiculously simple book, which was actually a ridiculous amount of fun to read.  It led us all over the place; looking for stripes, making comparisons and encouraging my son to learn such things as horizontal and vertical.

Again, it was panned by other parents as boring and having very little to it.  And you cannot really argue with that on a piece of literature level, but books like these certainly have their place, or they certainly do for me.

I would be delighted to hear of similar experiences, or the opinions of others.

Are books without words a waste of time or can they give children a sound base to learn from?

Commenting here is welcome, or alternatively you can get in touch with me via blog (at) tidy- books (dot) com

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The means and methods appear unimportant.  If you can engage people with, and get them to enjoy reading menus, road signs, posters, cereal boxes, newsletters, obituaries, catalogues  or operation manuals on its own is great, but will most likely lead to a reader expanding their enjoyment to books at some point.

As a parent it is certainly a philosophy I have thought about, one I was acutely aware of even at the conception stage of my child: How can I help my child enjoy reading?

The colours in picture books, and the practice of actually sitting and reading to a child from a very early stage, have been documented to have a huge impact, and I know from personal experience that they certainly help.

There comes a stage at which children look for more, they have many more distractions around them, yet at about the same time, become able to actually learn to read books for themselves.

It is perhaps at this stage where the nightly ritual of reading before bedtime can seem more like an extension of school for the child, possible becoming a chore rather than something they look forward to.

That is when making reading a game can help.

And by game, I mean that in at least two senses.

Some books have been turned into board games, the one I specifically think about is Eric Carle’s Very Hungry Caterpillar.

A classic children’s book, for your classic children’s bookcase, very simple, but still incredible powerful.

The game can currently be picked up for under £10 in the UK, and is a very welcome tool to further engage children in reading, who also enjoy playing games.

I have seen it work, playing the game with friends and family, my son has gone and fetched his book, to help explain the rules, and also to get someone new to read his book to him.

(As an interesting aside, I have also just discovered Eric Carle’s blog, perhaps a tool to encourage the older ones!)

The other way in which reading can be turned into games, is simply to devise ones that involve reading in some way.

Another blog that I enjoy reading, and I know Geraldine does too, recently posted about this.

The B.A. Bookworm blog is written by Mindy, a parent of four, who started blogging to help others nurture their child’s ‘inner bookworm’.

There are some great ideas there, and the post to which I refer was about setting riddles and hiding them around your home.

I am sure similar games, and many, many others, have been devised by parents all over the globe, and it would be great if we could get a few of you to share yours with us.

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A report, we first read on the BBC website grabbed our attention this week.

The education news story was based on a report commissioned by the Booktrust, as part of their Booktime and Booked Up initiatives.

It is an annual report that surveys 3,000 parents, carers and children, aiming to find out about the part books play in each of their lives.

The idea behind both of the Booktrust’s programmes is to generate a real love of reading amongst children, and the report is one way for them to monitor if their work is having the positive effect they intend it to have.

Some of the positives they should take from this year’s survey are that, indeed, reading has become more popular amongst the people quizzed.  They also found a 40% increase in the number of dads reading with their children, compared to the 2008 figures.

Negatives the survey highlighted are that while flexible working practices are supposed to enable a better work-life balance, technology and home entertainment are increasingly eating in to the time allocated for reading.

To that end, children’s bookcases are under threat, especially in households with older children.

Books are losing out to DVDs and computer games, with 34% of parents and carers saying that this is true of their households.   This figure rises to 41% in the homes of 11 to 12 year-olds.

This is a trend that the Booktrust is looking to reverse, and through its Booktime and Booked Up programmes it will be distributing 2 million free books to children, hoping ‘to encourage a life-long love of reading’.

Every 4 to 5 year–old in reception classes all over the country will be receiving a free book through the Booktime this term, and for children in Year 7, aged 11 to 12, Booked Up is gifting 670,000 books.  Children of this age will get to choose a book from a carefully selected dozen.

We hope to see many of these books on your children’s, and our kid’s bookcases.

If you want to read the BBC report we did, you can find it here.

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