Summer Reading!!

First of all, let me give a big thank you to the Champaign Library's Janice Harrington!

She is a fabulous children's author and children's librarian. Unfortunately, she is leaving the library to move on to other things (teaching at the University). We were fortunate enough to participate in her last storytime on Wednesday. She is just the best, and we will miss her! Thanks for all your hard work and dedication!

Now...let's make a committment to read this summer!

If you have been reading my blog for a bit, it is obvious that we love to read here. And summer is a great time to really get into it as a family. For school-age kids, summer can be a big time for losing reading skills (up to a grade-level), so it is important to keep things going over the summer so the fall can start off right!

Our daughter's school is doing a great thing this summer. Each family is given a reading journal, a reading log, and three books to read together. The family is encouraged to read books together and talk about them as well as journal. For every book read or month of a completed reading log, the kids will get a raffle ticket for a new bike!

We also participate in the library's reading programs for all of our kids, and me too! The best part of the library program is that they provide you with a reading journal for each child. My 10yo completes hers on her own...writing down the books she reads and what she likes about them. My 3yo likes to draw or talk about his books (as I write down the titles and his dictations). My 1yo simply gets to draw and keep a tally of his books.

My goal for the little ones is 100 books read to them (not including repeats).
My goal for the 10yo is 12 chapter books in addition to reading to her brothers.
My goal is to read 12 books as well, in addition to reading for and with the kids.

We also sometimes will have a family reading night...over dinner we talk about what each of us is reading that week (whether it be a book, magazine, newspaper, textbook).

Summer time is a great time to pick up a series. I challenge myself to read all of the series as fast as I can (I just started to re-read Harry Potter).

I really like murder/crime mysteries. Here are some suggestions:
Sue Grafton's Alphabet Series
Kate White's Bailey Weggin's Series
James Patterson's Women's Murder Club Series
Robert Parker's Sunny Randall or Jesse Stone Series
Carl Hiaasen's books

If you haven't read Harry Potter...get to it! The last one comes out July 21st!
If you liked Harry Potter....try Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass).

Remember to read together! And if a child sees how much you value reading...then they will want to do it too!

Have a great reading summer!