I saw a really nice post called “Growing a Reader” by Josie Leavitt on Publisher’s Weekly.
Josie owns a bookstore and tells of a young boy, Finn, who recently visited her store:
“Someone donated three rather large dragon animals to us, and they are a favorite of Finn’s. He sets them up in the three kid-sized chairs in a circle. Then he carefully selects a book for each dragon to read. One dragon was reading a book about dragons, of course, I was told. The other two each had very different books:the red dragon had a fairy tale book and the blue dragon was reading a short truck book. What was so revealing and lovely, was how Finn turned the pages for each dragon, retrieved fallen books and generally wanted to make sure each dragon had a satisfying and rewarding reading experience.”
Josie does a great job with the story and it is a quick read. I think my favorite part is the conclusion Josie draws from the story:
“Finn’s behavior speaks to a household that loves books. He sees both parents, especially his stay at home dad, reading all the time. He is read to constantly. This simple act, sharing a story with a child, has an amazing ripple effect.”
I couldn’t agree more.
