Raising A Reader

When I saw that What Do We Do All Day? had posted 12 Signs You're Raising A Reader, I did not go read the post.  I had my own ideas in mind, some of which I've written about before,  and I didn't want to "cheat" by reading hers.  So here's my list.  I'll keep adding to it as things occur to me.  I wonder how many overlap with What Do We Do All Day?'s list.  I'm off to go find out.  You know your child is a reader if:

1. She asks for books - and only books - for her birthday and holidays.
   
2. She reads while walking.
   
3. She not only reads while walking, she reads in the elevator.
   
4. When I drop her off at the school playground, she leans against the fence and reads instead of playing.
   
5. She asks to read books that she's only heard about in other books (which sometimes, frustratingly, are spoilers).
6. Her frames of reference are primarily literary.
   
7. She asks to stay up later "just to finish this chapter."  Twenty minutes later, you ask if she's finished the chapter and she says, "Oops, I finished it a while ago but I kept reading because it is just SO GOOD."
   
8. She asks you to keep reading to her because she is "hanging off a cliff."
   
9. She packs 6 books in her suitcase when she is going away for only 2 nights.
   
10. She comes over to listen when I read to her younger sister, whether we are reading picture books or chapter books, even (especially?) when it's a book she's read before.
    
11. She scoffs when she hears that, in order to be inducted into her school's Reading Hall of Fame, she (only) has to read 8 chapter books over the summer.  "I could read that in two days," she says, matter-of-factly, "probably one if I skipped meals."  (She reminds me of myself and my sister who would scoff every year when our elementary principal said that we should read "a" book over the summer.  "A" book?!?  Just one?!?  Aim a little lower, why don't you?)
    
12. Three of her birthday gifts were gift cards to bookstores.
    
13. When she had to choose a person in the community to write about, she chose a librarian.  And then she dedicated her book "to all librarians."
    
14. When she had to draw a building in New York, she drew the "wide library."
    
15. She chooses audio books over music in the car. [Added 8/4/13]

How do you know you're raising a reader?

Whatever We Talk About, We Talk About Books

On days when the children fight with each other, talk back, and generally misbehave (that is, every day), it is nice to get a reminder that at least I'm doing something right - I'm raising readers.  In the last few days, these reminders have come frequently, as my daughters have been using books as their reference point - to describe themselves, events, toys, and relationships.

My five-year-old and I were discussing Mrs. Mind-Your-Own-Business, a character in the Riverside Kids books, and I pointed out how she sees the negative in everything.  My daughter responded, "Like Eeyore." and then went on to say, "I'm the opposite of Eeyore.  I see the funny in everything."  (This is true!)

A few days later, as she and I worked on a project together (or rather, I did the project - an addition chart, and she acted as my gofer), she said, "Whenever I do art projects with H [her older sister], I'm Tib.  She always makes me do things for her [just as Betsy and Tacy make Tib do things for them]."  True again!

Another evening my 8-year-old was placing a disproportionately large doll into a small dollhouse.  "She's Alice in Wonderland!," my daughter exclaimed, referring to when Alice grew and was similarly disproportionate to her surroundings.

I have written before about our love of the book My Side of the Car and how we use it as an inside joke.   Well, the other day it actually rained on only one side of a train I was in.  My girls were delighted when I came home to report this and knew, without my mentioning it, that it was a reference to a book.

And how could I forget the North-going Zax and the South-going Zax, included here, neither of whom will budge an inch to the east or west so the other can pass?  My kids love to assert that they are Zax when they meet head-on in our hallway!

What about you and your kids?  Do you frequently use literary frames of reference?

Where We Read

The other day we took a short (1 express stop) subway ride.  My 7-year-old brought two books - one she was almost finished with and a back-up, and I brought the chapter book I've been reading to my 4-year-old.  We all snagged seats and began reading.  As we exited, another woman complimented me on raising two such voracious readers, noting their concentration (my older daughter later told me she didn't even realize I had been reading aloud to the younger one, so engrossed was she in her own book).

One of the ways to raise a reader is to bring a book everywhere.  My phone is the flip variety from 1998 or so so it has no games, no apps, no nothing.  So what do we have with us?  Books!  We read on the subway and the bus, while waiting at the doctor and the dentist and the post office.  But we also read on benches, stoops, and even sidewalks all over the city.  We read at the park, in between the monkey bars and games of "shark" (where one person pretends to spot a shark and then everyone has to run away).  I read to my younger daughter while we stand in the schoolyard waiting to pick up my older one.  My older one reads in the schoolyard in the mornings while waiting for her teacher to pick up the class - unless the supervising teacher has the chutzpah to insist the children run around so they don't freeze!  My husband has even been known to bring a book in the elevator for the ride down to the laundry room!

Of course, raising a reader is not as simple as bringing books everywhere, but it certainly helps!

Where do you and/or your kids read?