“A good book is the best of friends” – a saying we’ve all heard too often growing-up. Besides being a great source of knowledge, books provide the most useful of pastimes, especially to children who have more time to spare than adults. Not only does the activity of reading help a child academically, it develops in him a sense of fascination, reasoning and curiosity.
Alas, we live in the age of internet and 3G. When all entertainment and information can be had with the click of a mouse or the flick of a thumb, who wants to make the tedious effort of going to the bookseller and patiently turn the pages of a book? Inevitably, Facebook, Solitaire, Farmville and a plethora of mobile games are fast replacing the Secret Seven, Mallory Towers, Chacha Chowdhary and Nancy Drew series that used to fill up our vacation days.
Take heart parents, you can make the apples of your eyes as much, if not more, hooked to books as they are to their iPads and XBoxes. Here’s how...
Earlier the better - Young minds are the most impressionable. Experts feel a child can be read to as early as when he starts to smile. Small children would enjoy being read stories from books like the Aesop’s Fables and The Secret Garden by Francis Burett. For pre-schoolers, use books which have a lot of big vivid illustrations and just a few words to read on each page, such as My First books of Dreamland series. As Alice (Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll) might have said, “What’s the use of a book without pictures or conversation?”
The sound of you - Kids love the sound of their parents’ voice. Reading aloud to them is one of the most effective and important ways to get them to love the art of reading. Barnes and noble explain that reading aloud encourages bonding, the ability to visualize and listening skills. Kids emulate their parents, so read in front of them. They may be encouraged to form their own stories based on a picture in the book.
Be a child - The silliest blunder to make is to impose on them your own interests….coaxing them to read the books you would want them to read. Make reading fun for them. A child must be given the choice of the books he’d like to read, based on his interests. Read together – him to you….you to him. Discuss each others’ opinions and play-act scenes from the book. Of course, that doesn’t mean parents don’t exercise control over the quality and the content of what the children are reading.
Everyday thing - Bring reading into your routine – let them see you read newspapers in the morning. Carry books with you during travelling. Follow Sydney Smith’s maxim, “ No furniture as charming as books” – keep lots of books and magazines around the house, or better, build up a home-library and encourage them to use it and add to it their own collection. Enroll them into libraries where they would see other children, and be stimulated to choose out a variety of activity or reading books.
Here is a compilation of books and magazines that can create book-lovers out of kids – young and grown:
Mocking Jay by Suzanne Collins
Percy Jackson series
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Catching Fire
Wimpy Kid series
National Geographic World
Savvy
Comics like Archie’s, Spiderman, Tintin, Richie Rich
Artemis Fowl series
Peter Rabbit series by Beatrix Potter
Dr. Seuss books
The Secret Seven and Famous Five series by Enid Blyton
Libraries and bookstores that are quite a craze among book-loving parents and kids are:
The Landmark and Crossword bookstores: These stores do not need a membership. One can sit and read at leisure. They even organize fun-activity and reading workshops for members, and hold periodic sales.
British Council: The library has a vast collection of books and varied membership plans, although in some major cities it has now gone online.
You could also look up the following websites, considering time-constraints of our 21st century:
Barnesandnoble.com: One of the best, where you can browse through thousands of age-appropriate titles to pick out the best. Children can buy/rent books and create digital libraries, read excerpts, be part of book clubs and Nook libraries. They also host summer reading programs and blogs for parents, and provide useful tips on encouraging kids to read.
Amazon.com: Among the most famous sites for online shopping, it has a wide range of books and articles that can be browsed through or ordered online. One can even buy/sell textbooks online.
Britishcouncil.org: It would appeal better to Indian parents. You can opt for a membership plan that suits you, and get books delivered to your doorstep. Additionally, they hold numerous international reading and literature-related support programs such as the ones for TOEFL and GRE, and workshops or exchange programs for schools.
Librarywala.com: The relatively recently started online library rents out and home-delivers books, albeit to certain Indian metros currently.
Amarchitrakatha.com: The ancient folklore is made easily available though free shipping anywhere in India.
Karaditales.com, reading.org, and starfall.com are some other sites where kids can be fruitfully occupied with reading-related activities.
Hope you have a creative time with your kids with these tips. Next time your kids are bored…..Secret Seven, anyone?
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