Tips for Growing Bookworms: Series Recap and Future Plans

This post was originally published at Booklights on April 5, 2010 (fortunately I had already scheduled the post, because that was the morning that Baby Bookworm was born). I have updated it to reflect the reissued posts on my own blogs, and to add new tips as published here on Jen Robinson's Book Page.

Tips for Growing Bookworms: Series Recap and Future Plans

Back in 2007 I wrote a post for my own blog about 10 Tips for Growing Bookworms. Over several months in 2009 and 2010, I expanded upon each of those original ten ideas in separate posts at Booklights. This year, I've republished each of those 10 Booklights posts back at my own blog (because the Booklights blog is no longer active, and I wanted to make sure that the posts were archived here, too).

In today's post, I'm going to link to each of the original 10 tips posts, as presented at Booklights and back here at Jen Robinson's Book Page, so that they'll all be handy in one place. Some of the reissue posts have added commentary, based on my experience with Baby Bookworm, now 15 months old. I'll also be adding new tips as they become available, so that they can all be found in one place (such as Tip #11 below).

1. Read Aloud [reissue]
2. Read the Books Your Children Read [reissue]
3. Choose Books that Your Children Enjoy [reissue]
4. Make Sure Your Children Have Books of their Own [reissue]
5. Visit Libraries and Bookstores [reissue]
6. Read Yourself, and Model an Appreciation for Reading [reissue]
7. Point Out When You're Learning Useful Information by Reading [reissue]
8. Be Selective in Television Watching [reissue]
9. Create Cozy Reading Spaces within Your Home, and Keep Books Handy [reissue]
10. Let Them Stay Up Late Reading Under the Covers [reissue]
11. Use the Power of Cliffhangers to Spur Independent Reading, by Denise Hamilton

It should be noted that the original ten tips owe a debt to the following references, all of which I read prior to writing the original post (versions updated here as appropriate). Any of these books would be an excellent place to start, in learning more about growing bookworms.

• The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. My review.
• How to Get Your Child to Love Reading: For Ravenous and Reluctant Readers Alike by Esmé Raji Codell.
• Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever by Mem Fox.
• Raising a Reader: Make Your Child a Reader for Life by Paul Kropp.
• The Gift of Reading by David Bouchard.

I'd also add Donalyn Miller's The Book Whisperer to my list of recommendations, of course. That hadn't been published yet when I wrote the original set of tips. [And Pam Allyn's What to Read When: The Books and Stories to Read with Your Child--and All the Best Times to Read Them.]

I would love to know if there are other tips that you'd like to share to help parents and teachers in encouraging young readers. In my mind, there's no particular reason why the list has to stop at ten tips, after all. Any suggestions? If anything here in the comments (or elsewhere) inspires me, I'll add further entries to the series, and/or include some guest Tips for Growing Bookworms on the blog. Thanks for reading, and for caring about growing bookworms!!

A slightly different version of this post was originally published at Booklights on April 5, 2010. Since Booklights has ended, I am republishing selected posts here, at Jen Robinson's Book Page, with permission from PBS Parents. Booklights was funded by the PBS Kids Raising Readers initiative. All rights reserved.