Blogger: Rachel Kent
I am traveling today, so I will not be able to participate, but I hope you will all interact and chat with each other.
On Wednesday, I took my nephew and daughter to a local bookstore and it was so much fun to see them exploring the shelves of books. We looked at a cute picture book together (My Grandma’s a Ninja) and each of them got to pick one book to buy.
While we were purchasing the books, my nephew saw a sign for a reading program. The bookstore hosts a summer reading “contest” for children and it is spy themed. My nephew was very excited to sign up. He got to get his picture taken with a spy hat and glasses and the bookstore gave him a FBI-style folder with a reading log. If he completes the challenge, he gets to go to a spy party before school starts in the fall. He’s already a reader and loves books, but I could see this motivating kids who are not as eager to read, too. I was happy to see my nephew so excited to participate!
I was part of a library summer reading program like this once when I was a child. We were rewarded with an ice cream party and a free book.
I hope programs like this help children who are not natural readers to find that love of reading. It often only takes one special book! Something that touches a child on a deeper level and shows him or her that reading is an amazing adventure.
Did you or your children ever participate in a summer reading program?
Was there a special book that first ignited the love of reading in you?
I can’t remember a specific book that was the start for me, but when I was a new reader I devoured the Boxcar Children series and the Little House series and then moved on to Anne of Green Gables.
I’m participating in one right now at my local library. This one is for adults with a chance to win gift cards to local restaurants. My librarian girls were excited for me to enter since I probably read more books than anyone else in Lake Wylie.
Andrea, that’s so great that your library has a reading program for adults! I wish more did, to encourage reluctant grown up readers as well as kids.
When I was seven, read Sakai Saburo’s memoir “Samurai!”. Made me OK with being Asian, and want to learn to fly.
* Thanks to all for your prayers. Still here after nightmarish 18 hours; ascribe that to prayer, not anything in me. Fight’s not done, but still standing, more or less.
Fantastic! Praising God and still praying for you!
Thanks, Carol. Things still a bit grim at the moment, but I feel surrounded and buoyed by prayers.
So glad to see you on here, Andrew. Still praying.
Thank you so much, Johnnie – that means a lot to me. Please keep them coming. I’m hurting.
Andrew,
I bought your book and am reading it. I like the way you keep things moving. I can picture everything in my head and that’s the way I like to read books. Certain parts of your book remind me of the movie “The Five People You Meet in Heaven”. It’s based on the novel of the same name. It was a Hallmark movie, but because the main character meets people he saw during his service in Vietnam War, it was edgier and more realistic than Hallmark movies up to that point.
Anyway, I like your book and wanted you to know that.
Wow, thank you! You just made my day. I’m so glad you like it.
I’d say the first book that ignited my love for reading was this … have to tell the story, you know …
I was in the 3rd grade, and our class had a substitute teacher for an extended time. I never knew why. But the substitute was an elderly lady, and I loved her. She began reading James and the Giant Peach to us … and I was held captive. She had lips that constantly stayed moist, so her beautifully aged face captured me, as well. I couldn’t wait to get to class each day to hear more of the story.
The End. đ
If you liked “James”, you might enjoy Roald Dahl’s memoir of his time in East Africa, and early WW2, called “Going Solo”. Simple and engaging style, hard to put down.
I never did a summer reading program–I’m sure they had them at the library where I grew but I was always too busy reading to notice đ We did have an incredible children’s librarian, though, who I’m sure gently encourage many a child to learn to love books. She was absolutely lovely–warm and funny and kind, and always willing to take time to help you find just the right book while listening to you chatter at her.
As for a special story that inspired a love of reading, for me it was the unabridged ‘Swiss Family Robinson’ by Johann Weiss. My mother read it our loud when I was five and I learned to read because of that book. I think after everything clicked with our homeschool phonics lessons, I read one picture book and carried straight on to join my favorite family on their deserted island. ‘Swiss Family Robinson’ is still one of my favorite books and a frequent re-read to this day. I can’t wait to share it with my own little adventurers!
Your post made me smile, Rachel. Thank you for that.
Nearly every family story about my childhood begins with, “She had a book in her hand . . .” There were so many books, showing me a world beyond my dreams! My elementary school librarian actually called my mother to let her know that I was reading too much.
One book I remember, which I’ve been unable to find as an adult, was Under the PawPaw Tree. It was kind of exoticâprobably seeded my love of the globe that culminated in my international suspense. And I remember going to the library once a week in the summer, and checking out the maximum number of books allowed. (I think it was seven.)
On a related note, I just finished an extraordinary (to me, anyway) ARC of The Truth According to Us (Annie Barrows). I told my adult daughter last night that it had been a very long time since an author’s work delighted me as much
Thanks for starting my weekend with such pleasant memories.
NLBH
Books and summer were a special combo for our kids, too, but not mainly through library programs. Starting when our son was 4 and our daughter 2.5, we took two-week cross-country camping trips in a pick-up camper. Every time we went in a visitor center at a national park, each one got to pick a book. Paul became fascinated with astronomy when he was 5 and has a large âplanet bookâ library because of it. They each packed cloth tote bags of favorite books to take in the truck as well.
When he was in 7th grade, he read Eragon during a trip to Texas. We detoured through Carlsbad, NM, to buy the sequel because he couldnât wait until we got home. He couldnât even wait until we drove through Roswell on the regular backroad route. Paolini was 16 when he wrote the first book in the Inheritance Cycle, and that inspired Paul to begin writing fantasy adventure novels himself. He started creating a complex set of interrelated worlds and characters when he was 12 and is still writing about them at 22. I never understood why he would stay at the camper to write rather than go on a hike until I started writing novels myself. Addictive! I never get to bed before 1:30 because things really start to flow after 10:00.
LHOTP, Anne of Green Gables, and then Madeleine L’Engle, CS Lewis…but I do recall sitting in grade one, watching the paint dry as the other kids were reading/slaughtering Fun With Dick and Jane.
“Sssssssssssssspppppppppppppppppppottttttttttt cchheeeeewwwwwweeddddd Fffffffffaaaaathheeeeerrrr’sssssss sssssssssssssllllllllliiiippppppppppperrrrrrrrrrrrsssssssss….”
I may or may not have begun a lifetime of silent sarcasm at that first audible mutilation of a consonant.
“Go back to colouring, you flaming knuckle dragger!!”
Wow! Dick and Jane got more advanced for you younger folks. Past tense verbs and eight letter words! In first grade in my day, Spot didn’t get much past “See Spot run. Run, Spot, run.” Spot moved on to vandalism, too. No wonder the world has gone so far down hill.
Oh, I hear you Jennifer. My mom home schooled my sister and I for kindergarten and first grade and did an excellent job of it. Once we got to school we were mind-numbing bored.
Wait… was that your reading list, or mine? (An online quiz just revealed that I am, in fact, Anne Shirley.)
I’m so glad my small town had a library, and my parents let me ride my bike the three miles each way to check out all the books I wanted.
Summer ready program? Pshht. Just try and stop me!
Rachel,
Thanks for a fun post. Like you, I can’t remember a specific book, but I do remember my parents reading Dr. Seuss books and the Little Golden Books to me. At first I didn’t want to learn to read but my parents were persistent. I enjoyed reading the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books, and later on Zane Grey and Mary Stewart.
This summer we are all participating in our library’s summer reading program, even the adults and teens. Just yesterday, we picked up the Littles’ current prize…food coupons for a few free kids meals at local restaurants. The children are also participating in a bookstore reading program. I know of a couple of other programs, but quite frankly, I can’t keep up with them all. I’ve seen some on FB doing a summer of thankfulness. I’m thankful not only for the reading programs but also for a 15yo daughter who keeps track of books and minutes for all the others.
I was blessed to live in a community with a huge library summer reading program. We had our names on a board, and my sister and I longed to come in first – never did though đ They always through a huge party at the end of the summer. Wonderful memories.
I don’t remember ever not liking to read. My mom read to us when we were kids. The first filmstrip I remember is Make Way for Duckling at the Pine Hills Library in Albany, New York. It was a story hour program. The librarian read the book to us, then played the filmstrip. (Some readers of this may have to search on the internet for “filmstrip”.)
Rachel,
Reading about your daughter and nephew’s experience at your local bookstore brought back happy recollections.
We didn’t have reading programs at our library when I grew up…long, long, long ago…but my children participated in several and always had great fun.
The love of books…and reading… is such an integral part of our family. My dear mother (87 yrs.) keeps track of all the books and style of bookplates she’s purchased for her sixteen great-grands in a small spiral notebook. It’s small enough to fit in her purse when she shops for birthday or Christmas books.
Wishing everyone a tea-lightful weekend!
I wasn’t a very interested reader when I was little and when my teacher took her concerns to my mom she bustled me off to the library and I discovered Eddie and Gardenia by Carolyn Haywood. I’ve been a happy book nerd ever since. đ
I loved the Black Stallion Books by Walter Farley. They really got me started devouring books. And my 3 boys are doing a summer reading program this year and loving it. They get a certain number of tickets for each hour read and then get to pick prizes and pay for them with the tickets. Lots of fun.
Our neighborhood had a bookmobile! How wonderful was that? Every Thursday at 3:00 p.m. they pulled up to the curb and opened the door. I remember reading Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities and Orson Wells’ Invisible Man as soon as I was able to figure out most of the vocabulary.
Oh my! I just blogged about this on Monday! Our library is doing a hero themed summer program this year with lots of cool events, plus the kids can earn free books by logging how many books or minutes they spend reading. I love it! (I’m reading the books to my 6 & 4 year old.) And this year they’ve got a pretty cool program for the teenagers.
I’ve always loved to read, but I remember in 4th grade when my teacher read Matilda by Roald Dahl, and it ignited something in me. After that, I devoured anything I could get my hands on, especially The Black Stallion series, Nancy Drew, and the Hardy Boys mystery series.