The Case for Family Book Clubs: Parents Reading to Children Indicator of Success at School

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Thomas Friedman is more known for his observations on world affairs than family affairs, but in a recent opinion article for the New York Times, Friedman talks about how children show higher success rates in school when their parents read to them in the early years and are involved with their lives as they grow.

Friedman’s opinion piece cites a study conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or O.E.C.D., that looked beyond students’ performance on tests to help determine why some were more successful than others. Not surprisingly, parental involvement was found to play a key role. Of particular note was this finding: “Fifteen-year-old students whose parents often read books with them during their first year of primary school show markedly higher scores in PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) 2009 than students whose parents read with them infrequently or not at all. The performance advantage among students whose parents read to them in their early school years is evident regardless of the family socioeconomic background.”

To see the findings from O.E.C.D. and to see other studies, including one that looks at how reading for pleasure affects success in school, visit the PISA home page.

These findings strengthen the case for family books clubs. When you have a family book club, it helps you prioritize reading with your child and talk about what you read. Reading groups are also a way to keep everyone in the family reading for fun, even as the kids grow up and become involved in more activities that take them away from home.

November is National Family Literacy Month. Now is a good time to consider starting your own family reading group. To help you get started, I’ve written a few articles about reading with your family. Also, I’m giving away a copy of my guidebook for mother-daughter book clubs to someone who comments by the end of the day this Friday, November 25. It’s called Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs, and many of the recommendations found there can be adapted for reading groups created within a single family. Here’s where to find the other articles:

Tips on Starting a Family Book Club

Books for Family Reading Groups to Read Out Loud

Activities and Games Extend the Fun of Reading in Family Book Clubs

Activities and Games Extend the Fun of Reading in Family Book Clubs

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November is Family Literacy Month, and here at Mother Daughter Book Club. com I’m talking about increasing literacy for everyone in the family through reading groups. (See previous posts about starting a group and ideas for what to read by age group.) And if you’d like to enter your name for a chance to win a copy of Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs, just leave a comment on my post with tips for getting started. I’m choosing a winner each Friday in November, so there are still two chances left to win.

It’s true that kids and adults are more likely to enjoy reading if it’s fun. How do you make reading fun? Make sure that everyone is enjoying what you read. Read aloud with silly voices and sound effects. And add in a game or other activity every now and then.

Art projects make particularly good activities to go with a book you are reading in your family book club. Scheduling time to create art inspired by the book also lets you talk about what you’re reading. And that may lead to all kinds of topics that help parents and children communicate about issues that are really important.

Here are a few ideas for projects you can easily tie into your family book club.

Make a bookmark. Buy posterboard or heavy card stock and outline the shape of a bookmark in pencil. Don’t cut it out until after you and your kids have finished your creations. Using colored pencils or markers, finger paints or watercolors, draw something inspired by the story you’re reading. For instance, if you’re reading the Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White, you may want to draw a swan blowing a trumpet or the pond where Louis is born.

Even younger kids can draw squiggles that represent things, like the bears in More Bears! by Kenn Nesbitt and Troy Cummings. Once everyone has a bookmark they are satisfied with, you can cut the shape out and begin using it right away. If you’d like to make your creation last for years, you can take it to a local copy store and have it laminated.

Older children may enjoy games set around the book too. Think about creating a word search or crossword puzzle using words in the book that may be good for your child to focus on. Or, play a game of charades using words from the book written on slips of paper. Just a little creativity is all it takes to bring the pages of the book to life and make your family book club even more fun.

Book Review: I’ll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan

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I'll Be There cover imageSam doesn’t remember too much from before his dad took him and his little brother away from home for a life on the run. He just knows that it’s important that he not attract attention to himself when he goes out. But when he makes a connection with Emily, he suddenly doesn’t want to be anonymous anymore. Soon Sam and his younger brother Riddle are interacting with other people for the first time in 10 years. Even though they know it won’t be long before their father moves them along again, they want to stay and find out what normal life is like.

From the opening lines of I’ll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan I was hooked on Sam Border’s story. Which is why I found myself wanting to race through this story even though it’s not the kind of book you would expect to be a pageturner.

Sam has learned to cope with his dad’s mental illness and angry outbursts, and he fiercely takes care of Riddle, who has always had health problems. The mom in me ached to see these two boys rescued from their situation.

And Emily’s relationship with Sam is touching. She knows he’s different, but she would never guess the reason why. And when her whole family becomes interested in the two boys, she can’t imagine the consequences that will result for all of them. Indeed, everyone who appears in the book has their lives touched in some way by Sam and Emily, even if they didn’t know how those connections came about.

I highly recommend I’ll Be There for mother-daughter book clubs with girls aged 12 and up. Issues to discuss include what makes up a family, what attracts and repels us to other people, mental illness, parents kidnapping their children, wilderness survival and more.

Publisher Little, Brown and Company provided me with a copy of this book for review.

Book Review: Mostly Good Girls by Leila Sales

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Mostly Good Girls cover imageViolet has high expectations for her junior year at the exclusive all-girls school she attends in Boston. She’s always had to work hard for whatever she achieves, and she’s willing to put in as many hours as it takes to increase her chances of getting into a good college. But she soon finds out that in more ways than one, this year will be nothing like she hopes it will be.

Mostly Good Girls by Leila Sales reveals a sometimes hilarious, sometimes thoughtful, always entertaining behind-the-scenes look at the high-stress environment of an all-girls prep school. The administration encourages girls to be inclusive, which means the emphasis is always on not hurting anyone else’s feelings. Violet gets this, but she also believes it encourages mediocrity in some cases.

Mostly Good Girls delves into quite a few issues—sex, underage drinking, eating disorders, cutting—all of which girls in Violets school deal with. But these issues are approached in an intellectual as opposed to emotional way, so the book comes across as more thoughtful than depressing.

At the core of the story is Violet’s shifting relationship with her best friend, Katie, who seems perfect on the outside. Katie is wealthy, she doesn’t have to work hard for what she achieves, and yet she is deeply unhappy with the expectations put upon her. When she rebels against those expectations and starts acting out in unexpected ways, Violet feels that her world is unstable also. Their relationship could generate interesting discussions about what happens to a friendship when one of the friends changes and starts to do things the other doesn’t approve of. There is also a great opportunity to talk about going along with activities your friends suggest even if you don’t feel comfortable doing those things.

I recommend Mostly Good Girls for mother-daughter book clubs with girls aged 15 and up.

The author provided me with a copy of this book.

Books for Family Reading Groups to Read Out Loud

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Last week, I offered up a few tips on how to get a family reading group going. Today, I’m recommending a few titles in three age brackets that are good books to read out loud in your family. November is National Family Literacy month, which is a good time to think about adding more reading time into your family time. To help get you started, I’m giving away a signed copy of Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs each Friday of the month. See this previous post to enter by leaving a comment.

Here are the titles I recommend. Many of them are classics that children will be exposed to for the first time, and some of them are new. In addition to telling a good story, most of these books are also laugh-out-loud funny.

Ages 2 to 4

At this age, children love to have the same books read to them over and over. They often memorize the words in picture books , which lets them “read” pages themselves. Here are a few new books mixed in with a few classics that you won’t mind reading and enjoying often.

  • More Bears! By Kenn Nesbitt and Troy Cummings
  • If I Could Keep You Little by Marianne Richmond
  • My Name Is Not Isabella and My Name is Not Alexander by Jennifer Fosberry and Mike Litwin
  • Go, Dog. Go! By P. D. Eastman
  • Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
  • Before You Were Born by Jennifer Davis and Laura Cornell
  • Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
  • If you Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond

Ages 5 to 8

At this age kids can understand a lot more than they can read on their own. They like stories about friendship and family.

  • The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White
  • The BFG by Roald Dahl
  • Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
  • The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
  • The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
  • The Iron Man by Ted Hughes
  • Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
  • Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater

Ages 9 to 12

Reading with your kids when they are this age is particularly rewarding. They may be spending less time with you and more time with their friends, so reading together is a good way to connect on a regular basis.

  • A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
  • Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
  • Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce
  • Boy by Roald Dahl
  • Dewey the Library Cat: A True Story by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter
  • Granny Torrelli Makes Soup by Sharon Creech
  • The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall
  • The Quest of the Warrior Sheep by Christine and Christopher Russell

 

Book Review: Witch Dreams by Vivian Vande Velde

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Witch Dreams cover imageHere’s a guest review by author Christina Hamlett.

Title: Witch Dreams
Author: Vivian Vande Velde
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish (2008)
Genre: YA Fantasy

Where do we really go when we dream? Do we revisit, re-examine and/or reinvent the past? Do we try to sneak a peek at the future? Do we engage in fanciful adventures or pursue relationships that would seemingly never be possible in the waking world? Scientists, philosophers, theologians, astrologers and regular workaday people have long pondered the meanings behind Slumberland journeys. Many, however, might be hard-pressed to come up with the sort of creative spin that Vivian Vande Velde takes in her YA fantasy, Witch Dreams. Specifically, her teen protagonist Nyssa has the ability to enter the thoughts of others as they sleep and, thus, discern their fears, their wishes…and the truths they struggle to keep secret.

In the Medieval village where Nyssa and her family live, however, such unique talents share a kinship with witchcraft and could bring a sentence of death if not suppressed. Nevertheless, Nyssa is determined to obtain a confession from Elsdon, the young man whom she is certain was responsible for the brutal deaths of her parents. The only witness to the heinous crime is her brother Worrell, a lad so shaken by the tragedy that his mind has purposely blocked out the ugliness as a defense mechanism to survive the day-to-day bleakness of life’s hardships.

Velde has crafted a fast-paced, edgy story that artfully balances mysticism with the timeless coming-of-age themes about feeling like an outsider. Nyssa’s lack of companionship only reinforces her feelings of isolation and vulnerability, especially when the enemy she is stalking becomes desperate enough to turn the tables. Although the ending of the tale felt a little rushed and allowed things to fall too easily into place, the foundation has definitely been laid for a sequel or even a film adaptation.

Book Review: Dark Parties by Sara Grant

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Dark Parties cover imageNeva lives in a world where someone is always watching. The government built the Protectosphere she lives in to keep everyone safe, yet that same government also seems to make people disappear and never come back. As life inside the dome becomes more limited, the government squeezes its citizens ever more tightly to squelch insurgencies before they spread. Yet Neva is determined to rebel. Her status as the offspring of one of the founding families may protect her for a while, but it doesn’t stop those she loves from being affected in ways she never could have imagined.

In Dark Parties, author Sara Grant paints a civilization of the future that seems to have started off with noble intentions. The world was a dangerous place, so they built a protective dome to keep everyone safe. But government control grew until everything was regulated and everyone was afraid to speak out. History was routinely revised to reflect current thinking. Genetic manipulation bred undesirable physical qualities out until most of the population looked similar.

Just like Neva, the reader doesn’t know who to trust either. Her dad is suspect since he works for the government, and her mom is often away from home. She finds out her long-time boyfriend Ethan has been implanted with a tracking device, and her friends are disappearing at an increasing rate.

Dark Parties will keep you on the edge of your seat as you follow Neva through the confusion to a startling end. Along the way she confronts issues of friendship, courage, brutality, conformity, and love. She wrestles with big concepts: should she fight back, or should she become a good citizen and accept what’s in store for her? Is security more important to her than individuality? Can one person make a difference? Neva’s journey should bring up discussions about issues that are as relevant today and they would be in a future world. I recommend it for girls aged 15 and up.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book for review.

Tips on Starting a Family Book Club

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When my daughters were young, reading books together was one of our favorite things to do as a family. Most often, my husband, daughters and I would snuggle up together just before the girls went to sleep, and either my husband or I would read aloud. We stopped often to laugh or talk about something we had just read. No matter how many directions we went during the day, it was comforting for me to know that for 20 or 30 minutes each night, we would put aside time to be together and focus on a story.

We didn’t call what we did a family book club, but that is in effect what we created. I like to think those family book sessions helped spark an early interest in reading that later led to our mother-daughter book clubs and our continued interest in sharing books together. If you’re considering starting your own family group, here are a few tips to keep in mind.

  1. Find a consistent time to read, and make sure that no other distractions get in the way. For many families, that window of time comes up just before the kids go to bed. It’s sometimes easy for busy parents to fill this time with chores, but everyone benefits from a breather where you are all focused on engaging in an activity together.
  2. Choose books that your kids will think are fun and imaginative. Children love to hear about fantastical worlds where the rules they are familiar with don’t apply. When your children are very little, you can start out with picture books that you read over and over again, talking about something new in the story each time. As they grow, you can graduate to more complicated stories that cover issues of family and friendships.
  3. Make the time a treat, and don’t force it as a punishment. This should be a fun time for everyone. If the book isn’t resonating, don’t keep going just because you think your kids need to finish the story. If this happens, they will look for ways to get out of family reading time and so will you. At the same time, don’t threaten to cancel your reading sessions if your kids do something you disapprove of. Your book club should be a way to grow closer together, not further apart.
  4. Be open to other storytelling methods. We used to love listening to the stories on NPR’s Rabbit Ears Radio. For a half hour, we would all lie quietly and listen to the tale being read, then we talked about it afterward. You can look for books on tape or seek out a storyteller that performs at the library or somewhere else in your community.
  5. Don’t be afraid to use funny voices as you read, and stop to explain something if you need to. My daughters usually didn’t interrupt, but sometimes while reading I got the feeling they didn’t really understand what was happening in the story. When my husband or I stopped and asked if they knew what was going on, we had a chance to talk about it and they often learned something new.
  6. Bring something you read about into another part of your day. For instance, if the characters in a book enjoy eating ice cream, set up a time when everyone in the family can go out for a treat just like in the story.

November is National Family Literacy Month, and I’ll be presenting ideas for families to read together throughout the month. You may want to look at this article on good books to consider for your family book club. And don’t forget to add a comment to my previous post for your chance to win a copy of Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs. I’ll be giving away one copy each Friday in November to help encourage new clubs to form.

 

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