What Does Dystopian Mean, Anyway?
When I describe the premise of books like The Hunger Games or The Giver to my friends, I use the adjective “dystopian”. And even with all of the hy...
Category: How to encourage reading
Why Parents (including me) Prefer Reading Print Books with Their Children
My youngest child started kindergarten this year, and now he’s bringing home easy readers in a royal blue book sack each night. The books work on high frequenc...
What The Kite Runner Can Teach
My friend Lynne asked at our last book club meeting, “Should I let my daughter read The Kite Runner?” Lynne’s daughter is 15, intelligent, and well read. But...
What Makes a Great Character: Hermione Granger
My daughter loves to raise her hand to answer questions. She puts it high up there. She also likes to tell her brothers what to do. And before we leave fo...
Offer a Magazine to a Reluctant Reader
You might not expect a word nerd to say this, but I respect the fact that not everyone loves books like I do. However, I do believe everyone needs to be able t...
Great Read Alouds: The Hobbit
My youngest child turns six soon. In fact, I just dropped him off for his first day of kindergarten. He was ready, I was ready, but when he leaned over, squee...