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Books: Adventures for Kids

June 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment
books 

Image by brody4 via Flickr

In some circumstances, when you mention reading a book to kids, you see the glaze look appear over their faces—and maybe even some eye rolling. Presentation is everything, so getting kids exciting about reading really comes down to how you present it to them. Truth be told, books hold adventures, expectations and ways that you and your kids may never have the experience to have in any other way.

Get Lost in a Book

When it is a good book and a book that holds the interest of the reader, it is easy to get lost in the book. It is easy to not want to put the book down, not even for a minute, because you simply can’t stand not knowing what happens next. This is the type of feeling you have to instill in your children. In other words, you have to find topics, characters and genres of books that seem to capture and hold the attention of your child better than others.

Get Involved

The love of reading is also a monkey see, monkey do type activity. When your kids see that you love to read and they witness you reading and enjoying books, they are more apt to partake in the activity themselves. In addition to leading by example, you can also make reading a special activity that you share with your child. Each night, sit down and read an entire book, a few pages or an entire chapter of a book with your child. How much you read and what you read, for example, will depend on the age of your child (and possibly their attention span).

 

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Importance Of Books In Children’s Life

March 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Children build up their skills, habits and personalities mainly with their interaction with friends and families. Similarly books can also help the child to develop all the above mentioned qualities. The books are also a good tool to open up mind and explore imaginations of a child and also make them think about the ideas that have never crossed their mind before.

Books will help to build good vocabulary skills in children. While reading each child will come across many new words each day and this helps them to improve their vocabulary skills. Reading books also help children to build up a better control in their language. Books also help them to know more about the world. Things that they have not seen or places that they have not visited can be easily viewed and details about such places can be attained through books.

Selecting good books which explains our culture, rules and responsibilities will help to develop social skills in children. Sharing quality can be also cultivated with the help of books. Children can make a group of their own and each one can buy book and share it with the others soon after reading. This will help in building a good bonding between your friends and also will help children to understand the concept of sharing.

While reading a book many distractions might come but due to the interest in books the child will give more concentration on what they are reading. This will help to improve the Level of concentration in children.

Parents should take initiative to make their child know and understand about the value of books. It doesn’t mean that you should your child to read books. Make them aware of the positive side of reading a book. Provide books to your children according to their age. Try to start this from very younger stage so that they will easily get adapted to it.

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How To Entice Your Children To Read

January 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Reading is very significant for a child’s academic achievements. Yet several children do not take any pleasure in reading. They perceive reading to be a compulsory chore. If you wish to raise your children to enjoy reading, expose them to books on a regular basis. You must realize that you can’t force the desire to read. Show the child benefits of in reading for his or her purpose. If your school going child does not take interest reading, there are certain actions you must take to foster their desire to read.

Utilize your child’s personal interests to entice them towards books. Parents must mould children to see the joys of reading. Choose reading materials for your children based on their hobbies. If your child enjoys basketball, make sure you keep plenty of reading material on that topic that suits his age. Have several varieties of books or journals on specific teams, players, or history of the game. There are several magazines for young readers on a myriad of subjects.

Expose your children to books by getting some quality literature home. To add more intrigue and interest for your child, take out time and read certain portions to make your child curious enough to take up reading. If your children still don’t take pleasure in reading, make sure they at least glance through headlines, briefs, and pictures with headings.

Do not put undue pressure on your child to inculcate this habit. Try and make your child a “natural” reader. For this you should guide them to the pleasures of reading. Make sure to stock a good quantity of high interest literature at home, which is age appropriate for your child. Then, you must allow them to understand the usefulness and joys of those materials via self discovery. By using these helpful tips, several children will grow up and enjoy the essence of reading.

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Re-Readers and One-Timers: Which Are You?

December 31, 2010 by Leave a Comment

A question for book lovers everywhere: are you a re-reader or a one-timer?

As the term implies, re-readers will read the same book again, maybe even several times. One-timers will finish a book, then move along to the next one.

Re-readers enjoy peeling away layers, like an onion. Each time they read the book they gain new insights and connect with the story or information in a different way. Reading a book again may help a reader absorb the material on a deeper level. Or they may simply enjoy the characters or plot so much they want to re-enter that world and spend more time there.

Re-readers also may want to revisit a book they read years ago – the passage of time and life lived can make a book seem different the next time around. Or they skimmed through a book previously, and now want to take more time with it. Reading a favorite book again can be like putting on a soft, warm robe and remembering a different time in life than the one you’re presently in.

One-timers enjoy the accomplishment of reading a new book. Their analytical minds glean the key messages and themes, and they may reflect on how the book is similar or different than others they’ve read. They may silently rate the book and decide if they will recommend it to others. Then they’re back on the hunt for the next book to conquer. They may be continuously seeking fresh approaches and unique perspectives from new literary voices.

One-timers may be on a mission to read as many books as possible in their lifetime. They may have a list of all the books they plan to read, and add to it as they find interesting new titles. As one one-timer stated,”The world is too large, and life is too short. A book re-read steals time away from a new book I have yet to discover.”

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Reading Can Make You Healthy, Wealthy and Wise

December 14, 2010 by Leave a Comment
What I'm reading and re-reading
Image by Earl – What I Saw 2.0 via Flickr

Reading is the springboard for lifelong learning and accomplishment. It has been called the “cornerstone” of all educational achievement. Reading skill has been associated with self-image and self-confidence, which affects a person’s relationships, choices and success.

The process begins in early childhood and becomes a powerful tool for attaining knowledge and independent thinking skills. The more time a person spends reading, the better he or she becomes at interpretation, comprehension and analysis.

It all starts with a child’s attitude toward reading and their motivation to read. There are two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation springs from within. Someone who finds pleasure and value from reading is intrinsically motivated to continue reading. Extrinsic motivation is an external driver. Extrinsically motivated students are more likely to read for peripheral reasons, such as wanting to please a teacher or parent or gain a reward. Studies show that both types of motivation are factors in getting students to read, but intrinsically motivated students are more avid and regular readers than those impelled by outside forces.

Reading out loud to children from an early age helps them establish a positive attitude toward reading and actually builds brain circuitry. Toddlers and preschoolers enjoy listening to tales and interacting with their parents during story time. As they get older, children become curious about letters and words and are eager to learn to read for themselves. They also learn skills important for school, such as sitting quietly and listening. Reading at home sets the stage for school readiness and helps children become intrinsically motivated for academic success.

Reading has surprising benefit for individuals, employers and society. Research shows:
-Readers are better writers
- Readers get better jobs and perform better on the job
- Readers learn second languages more easily
- Readers are more likely to have healthier lifestyles and be involved in their community

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E-books, New Ways to Read Books

December 1, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Not long ago the idea of reading a book on your computer or a hand held electronic device seemed like science fiction. Now, the literary market place seems to be moving at full speed away from the paper pages so many of us are used to and quickly becoming another electronic gadget to carry around. The availability of (electronic books) e-books is quickly increasing with a new sellers popping up regularly. It seems to be the new market for all the big online companies and the big book stores.

The concept of the e-books is simple. The full text of a book, fiction or non-fiction, can be downloaded into a number of different types of devices and read. The kinds of devices are anything from those specific for e-books to phones or personal computers. For most companies, once you buy the book, the file is available to you online to download to any of your devices, so you can gain access to whatever you are currently reading wherever you are.

The positives to the idea of e-book are many, including, reducing the environmental impact of printing and of course greater access to written material. But one can’t help but already start to feel nostalgic, about curling up on a couch or under a tree, or in the back yard hammock, with a good book. The beauty of a book has been a way to unplug and relax without concern that your book will run out of battery charge.

It’s hard to imagine a world without books printed on pages. It’s difficult to imagine the library becoming an antique shop and printed books becoming only collectors items. It appears that is where we are headed. Will reading books become out of reach for the poor? Will libraries become only computer terminals and bookstores only online? The truth, the development of the electronic book could be a great thing, and printed books probably won’t disappear this year.

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Bringing Books Back in the Home

November 21, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Collage wallpaper
Image by Sublime Designs via Flickr

There used to be a time when everyone read. Reading was a national past time and books used to influence people and tie them together. These days, reading has become a thing of the past. Sure, there is Harry Potter and the Twilight series which are bringing young people back to reading, but that is only a sliver of the population that is ignoring reading as a whole.

So where do we go to get reading back on the map and in the homes and lives of more people? The journey begins and ends inside the home and the lessons that the parents teach to their children. There must be an emphasis on reading from a young age. Parents must teach their children that reading is paramount to a great education and that they must have if they hope to be a successful, well-rounded person.

Parents can enforce the idea of reading by being readers themselves. Parents who reach for the remote before a book will instill that sense of value in their children too. If parents look at reading as a priority, then so will the kids. Another good option for reading material in the home can come from online printing.

Scheduling reading time for the family is a great way to instill the idea of reading as a daily activity. It’s something that can bring people together and make the family feel like they are doing something of value. The other key is conversation. Having good conversation about the books that are being read is a great way to make the family excited about what they are reading and to get eachother interested in different books themselves. There must be something done to keep children reading, and the benefits could result in parents reading too.

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Leveraging Your Reading Skills

November 1, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Having the ability to read is one of the most basic, and most important facets of a life where you experience any kind of success. Obviously if you couldn’t read, you would have a pretty hard time making any sense out of this article. The ability to read is what allows you to do pretty much anything you want to do. It can also help you in a lot of ways to advance your life, such as through learning new things by reading them. Believe it or not, not every problem can be solved through a tutorial in a YouTube video. This might actually shock some people.

But the power of being able to read goes far beyond simply reading books about any given topic. While reading books is great, it is not the be all end all of how much reading can teach you. You can leverage your reading skills into a great life, through getting an education. If you go to sites such as EarnMyDegree.com, you have the ability to get an entire education (with a real degree that will garner you actual respect) from a respectable educational institution. This can help you get going in a whole different direction than you’re currently going in. You can change a lot through just reading and learning.

Just think, it all starts with picking up those first few books and getting the basics down. When our teachers teach children how to read, they are basically opening up an entire world to these kids that would otherwise be completely closed to them. There is a massive treasure trove of knowledge (and opportunities) waiting for people who not only know how to read but actually use that knowledge to their own advantage. While it might not seem like being able to read is that big of a deal, just try asking someone who doesn’t know how about it.

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The Lost Art of Reading

October 14, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Books in the Douglasville, Georgia Borders store.
Image via Wikipedia

Books are special and unique. They are humans way of communicating important ideas, facts and stories to each other. Just head to any bookstore and you’ll see that there are millions and millions of books out there in the world.

There are books on dragons. Books on animals, plant life, sporting events, famous people, recipes and even about the history of the GMAT prep courses work! There are so many books out there that it would take years to list every single book.

Books our or window into the world. It’s our given opportunity to read, learn and experience events that people would otherwise only dream of. Despite all the wonderful qualities of books, reading has almost become an archaic art form. Sadly, less and less people are enjoying books like they used to. Centeries ago people would jump at the chance to read a book. Now a combination of the popularity of the Internet, discovery of video games and people just being overworked has led people to put reading to the side.

A recent study conducted showed that the average person will only read 5 books a year. That’s a pretty small number compared to how many books are out there in the world. That same study suggested that even if a person were to read more than the average person it is only humanly possible to read 3000 books in a lifetime. While that number is slightly higher then the 5 books a person reads, 3000 is still a small number of books compared to how may video games are played, instant messages are sent and movies that are viewed.

No matter how busy life gets there is always time to pick up a book. As books come in many shapes, sizes and page lengths there is no excuse to not read a book. After reading a book you might just realize that you can make time to read after all!

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Reading in Cars: Why You Can’t Touch that Book

October 14, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Ear
Image via Wikipedia

Are you the person in the car who can sit for hours, reading your book? Or are you the other one….the person who, after five minutes, throws down their book, green in the face, and tries to prevent themselves from vomiting? If you’re this second person, you know well the misery which is carsickness. But why does reading bring this on? And why only in some?

Carsickness—a form of motion sickness—occurs when your body has conflicting information between what it sees, and what it feels. When you’re reading a book in the car, your body “sees” that you’re sitting still, because your eyes are fixed on a single point. But your body feels that you are moving, because of the information on balance it’s receiving from your inner ear. This discrepancy between what your body sees and feels is what puts it into alarm mode, causing that all-too-familiar feeling of nausea.

But why can some people read in cars anyway? Although the reason is not entirely clear as to why some people are more sensitive than others, what’s known is that these car-readers are not receiving the same level of unbalance from their middle ear. The discrepancy between what their body feels and what it sees is not sensed by the body as extreme as it is by those who begin to feel almost instantaneous nausea.

So what can you do if you suffer from carsickness? The answer lies in helping your body get rid of this discrepancy; either by matching the stillness of your eyes to the stillness of your body (reading only when the car isn’t moving), or matching the movement of your body with the movement of your eyes (looking out the window while the car’s in motion.)

Although tips exist to help lessen carsickness, you may always be one of those who needs to look forward to reading their book…after the trip is over.

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