I hope my kids love reading as much as I do
April 29th, 2010 | 
Author: As a parent that loves to read, I am constantly on the lookout for books that my kids will enjoy, and that they can relate to. Whether it be moving, losing a tooth, starting a new school. *insert any life event here*.
I have had fantastic luck finding things for Thing 2 through the Scholastic Book Club that his school offers. In fact, I challenge myself each month to spend less than $50 per order. That buys a lot of Scholastic books. There isn’t much for Thing 1 in them, simply because she is older and most of the books are beneath her level. I have scored a few, but not many. I really wish her teacher would get on the ball and offer Scholastic in her class. But, that might just be asking way too much. Add one more thing to her plate and she just may forget all the kids names. Heck, she already spells Thing 1 wrong.
OK, so I got off track. I’m good at that.
I would say “the other day as I was walking through Target”, but that would be a complete lie since it was more like the other month (I’m a slacker, so I’m just posting now). So, the other month when I was walking through Target, my eyes fell on the cover a book called “Amy Hodgepodge, All Mixed Up”. The little girl on the front had brown skin and curly hair, so I grabbed it to read the back. Turns out, Amy is part Japanese, part Korean, part African-American, and part Caucasian. This? Was something Thing 1 could totally relate to (minus the Japanese and Korean, of course). One of Amy’s friends is African American and Caucasian, and my memory is failing me right now as to what her other friends are. There was no way I couldn’t buy this book. And it’s part of a series of chapter books. I love series and Thing 1 is just getting into Chapter books. Perfect.
We finished the first book which tackled some hard issues, such as bullying, disappointing friends, and being made fun of for being different. Just the back cover alone sparked a huge discussion with Thing 1. As I had hoped, she loved the book, so we bought #2 in the series. It’s titled “Amy Hodgepodge, Happy Birthday to Me”. We are only three chapters in, but so far, it is just as good as the first one. Score!
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Try the Ivy and Bean books. They aren’t so much about diversity as they are two girls with different personalities, but my daughter LOVED them.
I get such joy out of watching my son get into reading. Each night I have to pressure him to go to bed because he wants to “just read a few more pages!”.
I bet she will be quite a bookworm just like mommy!!
I started teaching my son to turn pages since he was 9 months. I also read to him every day. It’s never too early to start and it’s such a great habit to have !!
So nice that you stumbled upon something she loved!! =]
Thanks for passing this along – It might be perfect for my nieces, if not below their reading level.
What I love about my son’s preschool, is that they send about 5 Scholastic sheets home at a time, so I can shop for baby cousins, toddlers, and my older nieces, with the various reading levels represented.
Is she ready for/ into Junie B Jones? That was a huge series hit of chapter books with two of my nieces…