How to Pass On a Love of Reading

Curling up with a good book is one of my favorite things to do. On a drizzly Sunday, I love to burrow deep in the couch with a fuzzy blanket strategically draped over me, and lose myself in the pages of a great novel, periodically reaching for a chilled glass of wine. I always expected my kids to be bookworms like me. Always pictured us spending quiet afternoons reading together. But passing on my passion for books has been a tough sell. A very tough sell.

We Should Have Cloned Dr. Seuss
The problem is that there are not enough people writing books like Dr. Seuss. The Cat in the Hat, Fox in Socks, and even Go Dog Go are entertaining, funny, and amazingly illustrated. They're fun to read, act out, and the perfect beginner reader book. But there's not enough of them! In Kindergarten and First Grade, when my kids are just beginning to read, they're bored stiff by all the early reader titles. Reading becomes a painful chore. They squirm in their seat, picking their teeth, the lint on their shirt, shifting in their chair and losing their spot on the page. Those early reading sessions are torture for them and me. I hate them as much as they do. And we all end in up in tears, with me hoarse from telling them to sit still and READ, JUST READ SO WE CAN BE DONE FOR PETE'S SAKE!

It Just Takes Time and Patience
Bella is now such a passionate reader that she tries to sneak books under the table at dinner, just to get a few more pages in of Percy and the Lightning Thief.  She's been known to turn the light back on after bedtime to read a little more Harry Potter and to still be up at 10:30. But it took time, and many fruitless sessions suggesting different book titles at the library and the bookstore before she caught the reading bug. Her reading ability needed time to catch up to her interests. When she discovered the Rainbow Fairies Series, she was hooked. It's just a matter of finding the right title.

I've spent the last two years fighting with Jack about reading, periodically deciding to give it a rest every few months or so, for his sanity and mine. I saw him try the same squirming tactics as Bella, bopping up and down in his chair, sucking his shirt, all to avoid getting to the end of the page.


But we hung in there. And finally, this week, we made the breakthrough, and a reader was born. He looked up at me on Wednesday night and said the most miraculous, beautiful words I'd ever heard. "Hey Mom! You were right! Reading is so fun. This is a great book."

A Miraculous Breakthrough
The book we have to thank for this miracle is the Ballpark Mysteries: the Fenway Foul Up. David A. Kelly is the author and I am considering building him some sort of monument in my front yard. Thanks to his creativity Jack is giving me breathless updates about what he has just uncovered in the last chapter and his latest theories about who stole the bat. It's the perfect book for little boys, combining mystery and baseball trivia. I only wish that David A. Kelly were further along in his series as there are only two titles published so far (the Fenway Foul Up and the Pinstripe Ghost). Book three, The LA Dodger, comes out in July. Get writing Mr. Kelly! We need to keep this boy's love of reading fueled with your work.