Part One: Discovering the Joy of Reading

The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them. - Mark Twain

I don't know when I discovered the joy of reading. I do clearly remember the day I learned to read: rushing home from school, waiting patiently on the couch for my mom to finish her telephone conversation, then following my finger as I read aloud the first page of my Dick and Jane reader. Learning to read was exciting.

But discovering the joy of reading-feeling the sheer pleasure of holding a good book in my hand and anticipating the world to which it would take me-I don't know when that happened. I don't even know who to thank for it. My parents? A teacher? A librarian? Maybe good books were just something I happened upon. Until I became a parent, I never thought much about the joy of reading. But as a brand-new mother I read in Gladys Hunt's "Honey for a Child's Heart" (Zondervan, 1989) that, "[c]hildren don't stumble onto good books by themselves; they must be introduced to the wonder of words put together in such a way that they spin out pure joy and magic." I learned that in most cases, children learn to love books when significant adults in their lives take the time to share their own enjoyment of books and reading. Reading to my children and passing on my own love of books became one of my priorities as a parent.

Why is reading good books to children so important? For starters:

Reading aloud to a young child prepares her to succeed as a reader.

A child may learn new ideas from books that are read to her.

Reading helps instill a family's or society's values in a child.

Reading is a good way to spend time with a child.

Reading may calm a child and be a vital part of a bedtime routine.
These are all great reasons to read to your child, but none is as important as this: Reading good books to your child helps her discover the pleasure they can give and thereby helps her develop a love of books.

Zena Sutherland says it this way in "Children and Books" (Addison-Wesley, 1997): "Young children are naturally receptive, responding with enthusiasm to new stimuli and experiences. The preschool years are ones during which it is first possible to instill a joy in books, to lead children to the realization that books and reading are sources of pleasure. Through the sharing of our own enjoyment of books, we can not only help prepare children for learning to read but can also help them take the first steps toward the habit of reading, a habit that will provide lifelong pleasure."

As parents, teachers, or caregivers, we can and should actively help the children in our lives take their first steps in developing the habit of reading. There's no sure-fire formula that guarantees your child will learn to love reading, but you can provide two very effective tools.

The first tool is time: Adults must be willing to invest the time it takes to read to the children in their lives. A busy schedule is the enemy of reading, so parents and caregivers must be willing to turn off the TV, slow down the hectic pace of activities and outings, and read to their children every day.

Adults willing to invest time in reading to their children must also invest effort in finding good books. Just as a steady diet of junk food hampers a body's ability to thrive, poor-quality books hamper the development of a love of reading. Read only the best books to your child. Children can discover the pleasure of reading and learn to recognize quality in books only by exposure to good books.

Next: Choosing children's books