I have a three-year-old son and it still worries me that he'll grow up and not be a reader. We read to him for at least 20 minutes every night and many times I'll walk into the living room and he'll be "reading" by himself. He has a ton of books, and there are many that we read over and over again.
Parade Magazine recently ran an interview with Jon Scieszka, newly named National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. You can read the whole (short) interview here, but I particularly liked this quote:
"People are literate in different ways. Personally, I love funny books. After all the boring "Dick and Jane" readers in school, Go Dog Go and Green Eggs and Ham changed my life. They were so much more real in their own twisted way."
So my son is getting a bunch of toys and LEGOs for Christmas, but he's also getting a bunch of new books. Even though he has a huge library already, he will always get books from me for Christmas and birthdays. And I'll keep reading to him every night as long as he lets me (and even after that too).
How are you raising a reader?
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