by S D Rios

Created on: March 03, 2010

There is, perhaps, no more important skill for children to develop in the early school years than reading. Parents quickly realize this as their children begin kindergarten expected to know letters, sounds, and sight words in rapid succession. Just as important as becoming a good reader is becoming someone who loves reading. Stories abound of students who read well but hate the actual act of reading a book. Rather than struggling to make a child read, parents and teachers must show the joy that comes from delving into a good book. Here are ways to make sure that reading is not a chore, but a pleasure, for your child.

LET THEM READ WHAT THEY WANT TO READ. Too often, children are made to read books that simply don't interest them, plain and simple. In the early years, a child who excels in reading might be asked to read storybooks and pictures books when they are actually interested in more advanced nonfiction books. The challenge is to find books that are written at the appropriate level of difficulty while still being of interest to the child. Schools often have a variety of rules in place to keep children from actually reading what will excite them about reading - rules like no nonfiction for K-2, no reading books more than one grade level above your own, and other such rules hinder the development of a love for reading rather than promoting it. Work with your school's teachers and administrators to loosen the rules on reading.

GO GRAPHIC. Particularly in the early years, excellent illustrations enhance the reading experience and increase comprehension. Choose books that have eyecatching, exciting illustrations and go one step further by creating artwork in the style of a particular illustrator. This will help your child see that the wonderful thing about a book is the whole package - the text, the covers, the pictures. It is this joy of opening a new book and marveling at all it offers that helps kids love reading books. In this digital age, it is even more important to stress the great aspects of actually picking up a book as opposed to skimming text quickly on a computer.

Graphic novels, books that resemble comic books, are a new hit with the middle elementary school readers. While we parents might resist the notion that comics are suitable reading materials, the idea is to engage kids in reading for fun. Comics are fun to read. Book publishers are realizing that books need to be all the more innovative and attention-grabbing to compete with digital books

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