Thursday, December 9, 2010

Books For Christmas

First it was any book with Thomas The Train or Lightning McQueen. Those were quickly followed by any book that had anything to do with trucks. Now they are fire fighter books, Stinky the Garbage Truck or fun rhyming books. These are the books my kids love to read. They read them to themselves and I read them to them. Their teachers read to them daily and their grandparents read to them when we vist.

My boys have discovered the joy of reading and I am grateful. They often ask me to buy new books in the bookstore and we occassionally go to the library where we sit and read together before taking some books home. That is where we were two nights ago. We read three books at the library, put on a puppet show and picked out two DVDs to take home and watch later. I buy books monthly from the Scholastic order at their day care. Santa and the Easter Bunny bring books when they visit. My kids can already tell you that hard cover books are expensive so if you hope to get me to buy a book make sure it is paperback.

Yet I saw an editorial in the paper about the number of children who are read to on a regular basis in this country. It was shocking and incredibly sad. Over half of all American children are not read to on a regular basis and many children do not even own a book. Reading is the key to a child's educational success. Without reading, all other subjects become even more difficult. Books open up worlds for children and adults to explore together. Full of new words that expand vocabulary and new sounds to hear are stories that inspire the imagination. Not to mention a great way to bond with your children.

The writer was asking everyone with children to wrap a book and leave it on the end of their child's bed Christmas morning. I won't be doing that but my children will be receiving two new books. Santa brings them every year. I hope Santa or another adult brings the children in your lives books this Christmas as well.

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