Tips to Teach Kids to Love Books

You’ve heard it before, but I'll repeat it: Reading makes kids smart. Engaging with books helps them soar in school; it strengthens vocabulary and spelling, as well as math, science, and reasoning skills. It boosts empathy, motivation, and curiosity, as well. You get the point. Reading is critical!

These famous authors share how they passed down their love of reading (an article of Scholastic)

Emily Jenkins

Author of Toys Go Out

“A key to growing readers is: never shame their choices. At the library, I let my kids get anything they want. Then we get 48 other library books, too (those are my choices); come home, and pile them on the table. I put no pressure on them to read my favourites. I read aloud whatever they choose, without any judgment.”

R.J. Palacio

Author of Wonder and 365 Days of Wonder

“When my older son was learning to read, I actually made some Star Wars early chapter books to help get him interested. But the greatest ‘trick’ is to find the greatest books! Our family go-to's were Mr Gumpy’s Outing by John Burningham, Dr Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who!—I still know most of it by heart—and Lemons Are Not Red by Laura Vaccaro Seeger.”

Lauren Tarshis

Author of the I Survived series

“My kids and I used to throw ‘reading parties,’ where we would take a stack of books, a few stuffed animals, and a basket of snacks to a shady spot on our lawn. We’d spread a blanket and pass an hour or even two reading outside. A few times, we fell asleep surrounded by books and cookie crumbs.”

Mo Willems

Author of Knuffle Bunny and The Pigeon Needs a Bath

“For younger kids, ‘reading’ to them really means listening to the kid’s interaction with the story. Also, it’s good to get shame-ectomy. That will allow you to be loud, silly, and funny with any book.”

Jeff Kinney

Author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series

“My favourite book to read aloud to my kids is Freckle Juice by Judy Blume. It’s funny and a great story, just the right length for bedtime! Right now, I’m reading my sons my newest book, which hasn’t gone to the printer yet, and I always try to stop for the night on cliff-hanger moments. It keeps them wanting more.”

And, to finish, I'll add my tip.

María Vergara

Author of Wolols series

"My favourite books are those which offer some interaction or challenge. It can be changing voices, singing or encouraging kids to do something while reading the story or at the end. That's why Wolols books foster creativity and hands-on projects to play after reading them.

My older boys still enjoy listening to how I read aloud to their sister using funny voices and showing emotions (yes, I love it!) She gets the storyline faster and increases her vocabulary. One of our favourite books now is "Don't Wake The Dragon" an interactive bedtime story and of course my last Wolols' book "The Little Pigs and the Dj Wolf", a fun twist to the well-known classic and a very interactive loud book!"

Remember to Read, Imagine, Create and Play!