What Reading Looks Like at Our House

I have two sweet and wonderful little men who live with me. Ok, sometimes they make me absolutely crazy, you would not believe the noise level around here, and they like to talk about potty things and constantly destroy our furnishings. But from time to time we see tiny glimpses of amazing.

Of course, I want them both to be readers. Our fourth grader is now a voracious reader. Our kindergartener is a beginning reader. He reads aloud to us from his assigned books from school every night and he looks through books, but he still prefers that we read aloud to him. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Sometimes I can't keep up with Leo's book needs, while at the same time, Henry wants to read the most boring books. Or I want to read him Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, and he's just not there yet. We had read about half of Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, and I happened to ask him a very basic question about the story. He could not answer it! I learned that this child can be very still and listen to reading for quite a long time without understanding any of it! So now I am sure to monitor comprehension to make sure he gets it.

Here is how I work to support reading at our house. Just my own personal philosophy:

*We read to them every night of their life. We listened to books in the car from infancy. I took them to story time at the library and it was beautiful. OK, that last one is a lie. We got kicked out of a public library story time twice, and I never went back. I was in library school at the time. For years, I just put books on hold, strapped a toddler to my back, and was in and out of the public library in a flash because we were like a circus side show.

*There are books all over our house. I bring home fiction, NF, poetry, picture books, graphic novels, etc. I make sure there are new books coming in on a regular basis. You would not believe the amount of books I bring home from the library, especially for Leo, that do not get read. Out of all that I bring home, he rejects most and reads a few. I just take the others back without pressure. Every once in awhile, I talk to him about giving a book a chance despite the cover, etc., because I think he will like it. I do that very rarely. And when he isn't interested, I let it go.

*If they want a book, I will move heaven and earth to get it. Sometimes I wonder if he is old enough for a book he wants to read. Such as when he wanted to read The Hunger Games at the beginning of third grade. I have found that he will put a book down when it is too much. This happened with Divergent. I thought he was ready for it, but the violence was too much, so he put it down. I basically let him self censor.

*I listen to Leo retell books. Lots and LOTS of retelling. Sometimes this is really interesting. Sometimes (*cough* most of the time) it is a bit boring, but I listen, listen, listen.

*There are children's books that I absolutely love that Leo doesn't like. I have to do lots of self talk to not pressure him when he's not interested. But I do not force him to read anything. In the last month, he has rejected Tuck Everlasting and Number the Stars. It was a bit painful for me to return them to the library as rejects, but I did.

*We read books on paper, on the Kindle, and we listen to audiobooks. Recently, he got bored with Maniac Magee on paper. A few weeks later, I brought it home as an audiobook, and he loves it. He has listened to it for the last three nights.

*I let him read potty humor and books that are below his reading level when he chooses those. We did get stuck in a protracted Captain Underpants rut once, and I insisted that he try something else and then he could go back to CU. This did the trick. I'm fine with CU, but we don't want it to be a steady diet.

*I ask him what he's reading at home. I ask what he's reading at school. I ask what his teacher is reading aloud. I let him know that what he reads is an interesting topic to me.

*When we have differing opinions on a book, I listen and validate his opinion. And I tell him that I loved it and he's so wrong. Ha! We have fun discussions.

*I don't read everything he reads, but obviously I am reading children's books. He loves talking to me about the books that we've both read. This is an example of why it is so important to have a school librarian who is actively reading children's lit!

*Not finishing a book is A-OK. If you're not into it after a few chapters, move on.

*He has read all the Harry Potter books (some multiple times), but he still reads picture books, too.

*I think it goes without saying that we never use reading as a punishment.

*We put them to bed early, and we do not allow gaming in bed. Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky. You're bored and think your bedtime is too early? Well, look a here at all these books I have available to you.

As I read through these, I realize that I simply treat them as I would want to be treated as a reader. Good old Golden Rule, always popping up.