P-man's Evolution as a Reader...thus far...Part 1

This spring I experienced the kind of mommy pride that makes you stand a little taller. P-man, age 4 1/2, was asked to read a picture book to the rest of his preschool class. His teachers were shocked that he knew how to read, and were very willing to dispense some extra positive reinforcement by asking him to read to the other students. Several other parents started asking me what we were "doing" to teach P-man how to read. I had to stop and think before answering that question. In my mind, we weren't really doing anything. I gave the standard, "We read at bedtime," answer and went on my merry way. I continued to think about it the rest of the week. What had we done with P-man that led to him reading picture books before even starting kindergarten? I had to go way back to when he was a baby, and so that is where we will start.

When P-man was born our little family was in a very different economical situation. I went back to work part-time when he was 6 weeks old and started working full-time again when he was 6 months old. Luckily, I was able to get him in to a wonderful daycare center that we loved. We would read his board books at home, but I have to give the daycare credit, because they started teaching the kids nursery rhymes and finger plays before I even thought P-man was old enough to "get it". Learning those nursery rhymes was truly the first stepping stone to making P-man the reader he is today. He was about 18 months old when we took this video of him doing 'The Itsy Bitsy Spider' and 'Wheels on the Bus'. Once Steven and I discovered that he knew these finger plays and songs, we began singing during dinner, during bath time, at major family gatherings, whenever we could. His exposure to the rhymes, cadence, repetition, and fun of the nursery rhymes and songs made up this first step and led to what I consider his next major milestone, story memorization.

As I mentioned, we had been reading board books to Parker from birth, but never with any consistency until he was about 16 months old. At that point our regular rotation of books consisted of those which annoyed Steven and I the least; a very important consideration when choosing children's books for purchase because you will read them over, and over, and over again. By his second birthday, Parker had several of his board books memorized. His vocabulary was still very limited, but he had heard us saying the words in those books time and time again. Of course he wasn't "reading" in the traditional sense, but he was able to look at the picture on the page and say the words he knew went with that picture. I called this his 'party trick' and made him "read" for both sets of grandparents, aunts and uncles, pretty much anyone who would humor me. Over time he would learn to not only recognize the picture on the page, but also the written word that went with it. That is why I find that milestone so important.

There were a couple other important things that we did before P-man was 2 years old in regards to literacy which I feel are worth mentioning. At about 20 months I started bringing P-man to storytime at the local library. A totally free activity that enriches your child's love of books? What is not to love? I was raised on storytime at the library and I highly suggest everyone with children hunt out a storytime session near them. We also began working on the alphabet and letter recognition around this age. I sang the alphabet to P-man several times daily since birth, mostly because it is one of the few songs I can sing in key (as you can tell from the 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' video). He could sing it along with me at about age 2 and so I began pointing out the print version of the letters when I saw them. These activities led to the next milestone in P-man's evolution as a reader. A milestone I will happily share with you in an upcoming post.

What I hope you take away from this post is that we did not invest in an 'As Seen on TV' system for teaching your child to read. We did not sit P-man at the table with flashcards and make him recite items over and over. We sang, we read, and we did a whole lot of 'The Wheels on the Bus'. All of which he found fun. The minute he got bored with it, we stopped. Wes-Wes is doing things at a slightly different pace. He gets bored with the board books more easily, but that's okay. He'll have his own evolution, and it will make this mommy very proud too.

The Importance of Author Visits

Getting a book signed by an author is cool, but why do I want to bring my young boys to meet authors they probably won't even remember meeting? These author visits helps make authors feel like the celebrities I believe they are. My hope is that if we go to meet an author, and the kids see all these people lining up to have their book signed, it will make them want to be like the author. They'll get excited about writing and reading. I want my boys to idolize authors like other children idolize football players and movie stars. I want them to find reading and writing exciting. P-man already thinks it is pretty darn cool that most authors sign the book with a special little message to him. The books that he has gotten autographed are on the regular bedtime rotation. P-man is seeing the author as a celebrity.

There are actual celebrity authors. Authors whose book sales have brought them in to the media spotlight. J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, and Stephenie Meyer are examples of authors who have been in the media so much that you'd probably recognize them if you saw them on the street. Most other authors are lucky in the fact that they get the fame and (sometimes) fortune while keeping some privacy because people don't always know what they look like. Please do not confuse celebrity authors with celebrities who think they can be authors. My dad loathes the celebrity who tries to write a children's book. I will no doubt talk more about that particular subject in the future.

Then there is the third type, the author who becomes a celebrity because their book launches them in to other things. *Warning: this is where I get to brag a little.* One such autanhor celebrity is Anthony Bourdain. His road to celebrity started when he wrote the book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. This led to more books and then television shows. Recently I was able to go see Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern (a t.v. celebrity who writes books for children, but his are good) speak at the State Theater in Minneapolis. My wonderful husband had purchased the tickets for my birthday and splurged to allow us to meet the two after the show. It was so cool to have my books signed by two people who make me want to read, write, eat, and travel. Being around these authors made me want to write, thus the birth of this blog. I hope that someday an author can inspire P-man and Wes-Wes that same way.

Our Private Author Visit

A few weeks ago the boys and I were lucky enough to meet the author of a book that often makes our bedtime reading rotation. Sherri Duskey Rinker (http://sherriduskeyrinker.blogspot.com/), author of  the New York Times bestseller Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site, was signing books at one of our favorite local bookstores. She was making the rounds to promote her new book, Steam Train Dream Train, which is now also in the regular rotation.

A must-have for families with truck lovers

We were actually at a different author visit at that same bookstore when I noticed her name on the "Upcoming Events" board in the store. I was excited because P-man was already familiar with Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site and I thought it would be great for him to meet the person who wrote it. I noticed that she was coming on a Tuesday afternoon, which I thought was a bit odd, but it worked for us so I wrote it on our calendar. That Tuesday I picked P-man up from afternoon preschool and we hit the road for the bookstore. We arrived about 10 minutes before the author visit was supposed to start. I have been to my share of author visits, and usually if you arrive 10 minutes before show time you are standing in the back of the crowd. I thought for sure there would be a huge group of people due to the popularity of her books. Many of my friends on Facebook had expressed their jealousy when I announced who we were going to go meet today. Apparently Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site is in many friends' nightly reading rotations too.

P-man with Sherri Duskey Rinker

Well we get to the bookstore and it is us, Mrs. Rinker at an autograph table signing all the pre-sell books, and maybe two other families. I couldn't believe it! The bookstore owner later confessed to me that they were experimenting with the after-school time slot. In my opinion, it was an experiment that failed.

Luckily, Mrs. Rinker is a fabulous human being. When the official start time arrived, she came out from behind the table, threw on her 'mom' voice, and talked to the four or five kids there just like she would have had the store been packed. She asked the kids if it would be okay if she read her new book to them. Instead of sitting on a chair, she hunkered down right there on the floor with us and began to read. Once she was done with Steam Train Dream Train she went right on to Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site. She didn't mind that the kids were practically in her lap. She didn't mind when one or two of them (including P-man) interrupted to say something. She was awesome!

Wes-Wes joining in on the private reading

We got our new copy of Steam Train Dream Train signed and had another book signed for a friend who could not make it.  It was fun to talk to Mrs. Rinker. I consider her a kindred spirit. We are both mothers of two boys. She wrote Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site for her younger son who would not sit still for 'traditional' bedtime books (much like my Wes-Wes). Here is the amazing part - she got published from the "slush pile". For those of you unfamiliar with the publishing world, most books published now-a-days go to the publisher through a literary agent. Very few people who send their manuscript directly to the publisher (where it goes in the "slush pile") actually get published. Even fewer make it to the New York Times best seller list with their first book. I am in complete and total awe of this accomplishment. Mrs. Rinker knows how incredible her situation is and was wonderfully humble.
It was a wonderful event for us, if not for the bookstore. We were honored to get up close and personal with an author we adore. I know the boys have no idea how special that day was, but hopefully someday they will.

Sneak Peak: Next week I'll explain why I find author visits to be so important for the boys (and I'll brag a little bit about a different author visit I got to attend recently).

Introduction

Welcome to my new blog. My name is Laura and I am a wife and mother of two wonderful boys, ages 4 years and 16 months. This blog is going to feature a topic that just doesn't get enough attention; getting boys to like reading. I'm going to address this issue by discussing what I am doing with my two boys. I will share some of our favorite books, literary "field trips" we take, and other fun literature-based activities we do. Just to be sure I'm not misleading anyone, I want to first tell you a bit about myself.

A nod to Dr. Seuss

Who are you and why should I take you seriously?
I have a bachelors degree in Elementary Education, but I am a very happy stay-at-home mom. My husband, Steven, has been incredibly supportive about that choice. I have taken a handful of library science courses but chose not to pursue that career path. Why do I care so much about children and literature? I grew up in a house filled with books and a love for literature. My father, Rob Reid (www.rapnrob.com), was a children's librarian as I was growing up. He was, and still is, a professional storyteller as well. He currently teaches Children's Literature and Young Adult Literature courses at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire (www.uwec.edu). He is a published book author, and writes for various literary publications such as Book Links (http://www.ala.org/offices/publishing/booklist/booklinks) and LibrarySparks (http://www.librarysparks.com/librarysparks/). My mother has been working with kindergarteners as an aide since my youngest sibling was old enough to go to school and knows just what makes those little guys and girls tick. There were always books and stories around while I was growing up. I went to storytelling festivals as a young girl, and there was always an author visit to go to. You should also know that I am not employed by a publishing company or anything like that. I am not an author. I am just a mom and I will probably have typos and grammatical errors. Please don't hold it against me.

P-man and Wes-Wes reading on the deck

What am I going to see in this blog?
To be honest, you are going to see my kids. I will talk about them a lot. P-man is turning five late this summer and is just finishing his first year of preschool. He will start at a cool preschool/kindergarten hybrid this fall. A huge family milestone is that he learned to read this winter. I will discuss that transition in a future post. My 16 month old, Wes-Wes, is a very different boy than his older brother. P-man would always sit and listen to books, even as a baby and a toddler. Wes-Wes will do so occasionally, but not nearly as much. I will be writing about how I am introducing him, and his wiggly self, to literature as well.
We live in the Twin Cities area, so we are close to many amazing literature-based events which I will be writing about as well. One of my first posts will be about an incredibly cool author visit we went to at a local bookstore. I hope to encourage other parents to bring their kids to events like this as well. Besides parents, I hope that this blog reaches authors, teachers, and publishers too because I strongly believe that there is just not enough literature out there to keep boys interested in reading as they progress through school. I would like to see that change. I'm excited to see what you think about it as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read and I hope you enjoy 'Raising Boys Who Read'!