Giving My Daughter Free Choice at the Library: Photographic Proof
July 15, 2019
I write frequently about the importance of giving kids choice in their reading material in order to nurture their love of reading. I thought that my readers might be glad to know that I do walk the walk on this topic. A couple of weeks ago my daughter and I popped into the library. It was an unplanned stop. We were parked relatively far away and I had no bag with me to hold books. Nevertheless, my daughter found a few books that she simply HAD to take home.
Her selection: 15 Scooby Doo Choose Your Own Adventure books and one cookbook (which someone had left by the checkout machines). I did draw the line when her selection included duplicates of the Scooby Doo books. We spent some time sorting to make sure we had one, and only one, copy of each title. But other than that, I let her run free.
I have nothing against Scooby Doo Choose Your Own Adventure books or cookbooks, of course. I read what I believe were the original Choose Your Own Adventure titles back in the day. But I can't say that these are the books that I would have selected. And that, my friends, is the whole point.
If kids enjoy reading, they will read. The number one way to ensure that they enjoy reading is to let them read what they like. If that means checking out 15 books from the same series, so be it.
Would it surprise anyone to know that although she hasn't actually read all of these books, she is considering writing her own Choose Your Own Adventure story?
© 2019 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage. Links to be books may be affiliate links, for which I receive a small commission.