Helping Your Child Develop a Love of Reading
It is important to help your child develop a love of reading. Reading is the way that most knowledge is obtained. A good reader generally does better in school because he can understand the material well. The best way to help your children become good readers is to help them learn to love reading. The About.com Homeschooling site offers a list of eleven easy things that you can do as a parent to help your kids love to read.
You can begin teaching your children to love reading by reading to them from the time they are infants. After your children become independent readers the trick is to find the type of books that interest them. The key is to continue to try until you find the books that they like the best. This will vary from child to child. If you are looking for a wide variety of books, and reviews KidsReads.com is a great resource.
If you have a child who has an active imagination, adventure books may be a big hit. You should check out the Harry Potter series. Other great adventure series include A Series of Unfortunate Events books by Lemony Snicket. You may also want to check out the Goosebump series for kids that love to be a little bit scared.
Lists of Adventure Books
King County Library's System's Adventure Books for Children
Adventure Books for Children by Bella Online
Girls may be more drawn to books like Junie B Jones, or Ramona the Pest and other books by Beverly Cleary. The Ally Finkle series by Meg Cabot is a lot fun as well.
Lists of Books for Girls
Toledo Library's List of Books for Girls
Random House's Eighteen Highly Recommended Books for Girls
Book Lover's Den List of Series Books for Girls
Boys love books with action, adventure, and a lot of suspense. Gary Paulsen delivers this in nearly all of his books. He is best known for the Hatchet series about a boy stranded in the woods by himself. The Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey offers a unique outlook that attracts many young male readers. Rick Riordian's Percy Jackson series is a fun action packed adventure that appeals to boys who struggle with reading.
Lists of Books for Boys
Random House's Seventeen Highly Recommended Books for Boys
Boy'sRead.org Best Books
Some children are more drawn to nonfiction books. The key is to find books on the things that they are most interested in at the time. You can find great books on any nonfiction subject written for children. For example you may consider getting books on dinosaurs About.com's Children's Books Top Ten Dinosaur Booklist.
A simple search at your library's computer or talking to your librarian can make the children's nonfiction section accessible to your child.
