Looking for ways to get your kids excited about books, especially with summer break approaching? The Word Nerd is here for you. This week (May 2-8, 2016) happens to be Children’s Book Week, and the organizers have tons of ideas for encouraging some bookish enthusiasm. To see them all, visit the Children’s Book Week site. I’ve highlighted three here for you:
Idea #1: Get the right books
The best way to get kids to read? Put books in their hands. On their beds. In their backpacks. Unfortunately, it can be hard to choose ones they’ll like. Enter the Children’s Choice Book Awards, the only national book awards program in which kids and teens choose their favorites. A panel of librarians, book sellers, editors and other literary folk choose finalists, then the kids vote.
The polls are closed for 2016 books, but you can check out the Awards site for past winners (and reading ideas). The 2016 winners will post sometime during Book Week, but here are some of the 2016 finalists, by category:
Elementary school:
- Clark the Shark: Afraid of the Dark
- To the Sea
- I’m Trying To Love Spiders
Middle Grade:
- Backlash
- The Terrible Two
- Hilo Book 1: The Boy Who Crashed to Earth
Teen:
- All the Bright Places
- P.S. I Still Love You
- Red Queen
- We All Looked Up
Past winners/finalists include:
Middle Grade:
- El Deafo (see my review)
- Sisters
- The Dumbest Idea Ever
Teen:
- We Were Liars (see my review)
- One
- Cress
Idea #2: Bookish Activities
Bookweekonline.com has a ton of great ideas for book related activites, including:
- A down-loadable bookmark created by Cece Bell, author of El Deafo.
- Story starters
- Word finds and crossword puzzles with bookish themes, like “Author, Author” and Children’s Choice Award Winners.
(I’m going to print up story starters and puzzles for our 10 hour road trip to Florida next month. 😉 )
Idea #3: Stage a Read-In
This is the boldest book activity I’ve seen: an entire high school having a “Read-In” during Children’s Book Week. The site describes everything you’ll need to stage a “Read-In”, including a detailed schedule. The Read-In takes a little over an hour and includes thirty minutes of silent reading time book-ended with teacher/librarians reading aloud. Non-academic staff should participate too, promoting the notion that “everyone reads”.
Although I can see the challenges in this scenario, I think it would be a powerful way to promote reading. Perhaps a local non-profit could provide some books for those who wouldn’t normally have any. Unfortunately, Children’s Book Week always occurs the first week of May, just when my local school system is gearing up for standardized testing. Perhaps I could suggest they do it after all the tests, during those last two weeks of school when teachers are showing movies or running field trips.
When I was in elementary school we had something like Read-Ins: “USSR”- uninterrupted silent sustained reading. Interesting acronym for the 1980s. On designated USSR days, we all read silently in our classrooms for twenty minutes.
Do you know of any special activities to promote children’s reading in your community, especially during Children’s Book Week? Will you try any that I’ve listed?
Thanks for getting bookish with me!
You’ve covered some amazing ideas! I’m really hoping to keep my 7-year-old reading this summer 🙂
You always have great book suggestions – I’m sure you’ll find lots of great kid lit. Please share it with us!
I’m always looking for book ideas for my son, so thank you! My daughter is easy – she’d read all day if she could. She has All the Bright Places on her nightstand, and I read Red Queen last year. I will be raiding her bookcase when she goes to college!
I’ve gotten a lot of good reading suggestions from my daughter! I hope you can find something that will appeal to your son. 😉 P.S. My curl creme arrived today. 🙂
I love the book recommendations! I vote for a daily “sit in” so I can catch up on all the amazing books out there…I’d even settle for a weekly “sit in”! In elementary school, my entire school would take every Friday afternoon and read for a whole hour. We laid on big pillows under a cabinet and it was MY FAVORITE part of the whole week (gym, recess, and hamburger Thursday were close seconds :). I remember some kids hated Fridays and I could never understand…!
Hey, maybe we can organize a mom’s “sit in” – I’d LOVE more time for Big Little Lies right now… I used to feel guilty reading during the day. Audiobooks helps with that… I can “read” while folding laundry. A win/win!
Friday afternoons at your school sound lovely…