Growing a Reader: Kids' Books, Tips and More

Ahhhh summer: possibly every child’s favourite season. School is out for two whole months, the sun is shining, and there are BBQ’s, pool/sprinkler parties, cottage vacations, trips to the beach and many more fun things to do. 

This summer in Toronto, we also have the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games to watch live or on TV, and cheer on our Canadian athletes as they go for the gold! With all of these exciting endeavors, it is not hard to see why pleasure reading in the summer can be much more of a challenge for children.

It is no secret that libraries encourage pleasure reading over the summer months. The nation-wide run TD Summer Reading Club is evidence of that. The more a child reads, the better they read, and the more they find reading pleasurable. 

Art Credit: Josée Bisaillon

However, there is only so much time a child can spend in a library branch. So how do you encourage your child to read over the summer when there are so many other events to grab and hold their attention?

For starters, here are three common practices that will not work:

1. Lecturing your child: Cue the glossed over eyes, the slumped shoulders, the pout, and the zoning out.  Let’s be honest, no one likes to be lectured, especially children. They may see it as scolding, which they equate to punishment. While you may have the best of intentions, it may lead to resentment instead. 
2. Bribing your child: This is not about rewarding. Rewarding your child for their reading progress on occasion is a great encourager. Bribing your child to read however, is a discourager and may lead to negative habits towards reading: “If I can’t get this after I read, then why would I read it?” Or perhaps your ‘rewards’ will need to become bigger, more elaborate, or even more expensive than the one before. 
3. Criticizing the reading choice: While we all want children to read at or even above their grade level, the reality is that your child may either not want to, or may not be able to. Reading almost anything is better than reading nothing. Even if your child is reading a book below their grade level, as long as they are enjoying the book, they are enjoying reading; and the more they enjoy reading, the more they will read, and the better at reading they will become.

Now do not fret dear paren'ts, here are some helpful tips to encourage your child to read over the summer:

Let your child choose their reading material and set their own reading goals.

Nothing encourages independence than allowing your child to pick their own book on a trip to the library! Take a seat nearby in your branch’s children’s department, and let them wander through the shelves and find what sparks their interest. It could be a colourful cover, an interesting sport, or a well-known cartoon, TV or film character. Whatever they choose, encourage them to read that book.  Remind them that they do not have to read the whole book in one sitting, especially if the book is rather large. If you are worried the book is too advanced, try the “Five Finger Rule”: Open the book to a random page, and have your child make a fist. For every word they have difficulty with, have them put up a finger. Anywhere from two-four fingers is ideal, but a difficult book can be looked at as a challenge to read together, especially if the child really wants the book.  

Long drives to the cottage or to visit family? Put on an audiobook for a portion of the trip.

I don’t know about you, but I get motion sickness when I read in a car. On long trips, I like to alternate between listening to music, and listening to a good audiobook, even if it is one I’ve read a hundred times! Not only can listening to an audiobook ignite interest, it also sparks the imagination.

PanAm-Mania!

Pan Am got them hyped up? Why not use the great opportunity Toronto has acquired, to your advantage? Grab a book based on a sport they like, non-fiction or fiction. Make it into a fun activity while watching the sporting event: “What kind of a dive was that?” “Was that offside?” “Who holds the record for the fastest sprint?” If Pan Am is not their thing, discover what is interesting to your child at the present time, and find books based on that subject. 

As always, staff at the Toronto Public Library branches are here to help. Questions, concerns, tips and more. Ask your branch’s TD Summer Reading Club staff members for help and guidance. 

Happy Reading!