Raising a Reader

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  1. GET A LIBRARY CARD AND USE IT! Participate in children's library reading programs including author visits, reader's theatre, and summer reading challenges.
  2. Have daily reading time. The half hour before bedtime is usually easy to incorporate into your child's schedule.
  3. Designate "No Electronics" day. Pick the day of the week with your least favorite shows and "unplug" the entire family. Electronic readers are the exception, of course!
  4. Be a reader yourself. As a parent, the best way to raise a reader is to be one. Anyone in a child's life has the potential to influence what that child chooses to do with his or her spare time. Be a reading role model.
  5. Create a family book club. Aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins are welcome. Read and discuss (even via email or Zoom) a book with your book buddy. For younger kids, this is a great chance to talk with Pap-Pap. For older kids, this is an opportunity to share literary opinions with peers and elders. 
  6. Subscribe to local newspapers or national magazines. If your child is reluctant to read "long stuff," give them access to something less intimidating. Ask them if there is a picture in the newspaper that looks interesting to them, then discuss the story behind it. Let your child pick out a children's magazine to receive every month. How can they resist reading something they had a hand in choosing - something that comes addressed just for them?
  7. Register your child for Imagination Library—FREE in your area. In collaboration with the international Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, Ohio Governor's Imagination Library (OGIL) provides Ohio children from birth up to age five, regardless of family income, with a new book each month at no cost to the parent or provider. Visit ohioimaginationlibrary.org, for details, or, if living in Ottawa County, OH, visit United Way of Greater Toledo/Ottawa County, to register. Visit my Celebrity Reader page, to check out videos of 2021 Imagination Library titles ... created by "Celebrity Readers" spreading a county-wide love of books!