Newspapers another way to engage kids in reading
Just as we make time to eat to keep our bodies alive, we must make time to read to children every day. To read is to learn, and to learn is to be alive. Reading is food for the brain.
Consider this scenario: What if you are committed to reading aloud every day, but you didn’t have time to go to the library and you’ve already read every story in your child’s home library 20 times? What can you read? You’re looking at it: the newspaper. That’s right. Your newspaper is loaded with interesting things for children. Zero-in on subjects you know will capture their interest, and if an article is too long or complicated, paraphrase where necessary.
Reading the newspaper together with children is a good habit to establish. The newspaper helps children learn about events in their community, the nation and the world. We live in an age where we’ve gone beyond the phrase, “It pays to be informed.” It doesn’t just “pay,” it’s essential. By including newspapers as a part of your reading mix with children, you’ll be raising some pretty sharp cookies, and that’s a pursuit worth making time for, every day.
The following book is available at many public libraries:
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (Harper Trophy, 201 pages)
Read aloud: age 11 and older
Read yourself: age 11 and older
She is known by two names: Miyax in her small Eskimo village, and Julie by her pen pal in San Francisco. Barely yet a woman, Miyax’s life takes some sudden and difficult turns, and when it becomes clear to her that life is too dangerous in her village, Miyax decides to run away.
Becoming lost in the Alaskan wilderness doesn’t frighten Miyax at first – her father had taught her many valuable skills. But he was gone, and as the days pass, things look less promising. Miyax is still lost, winter is setting in, and her food is running low. Her only chance of survival is to copy the ways of a pack of wolves nearby and hope to win a place with them. Her task is great and her struggles are many, but eventually Miyax does gain their trust and in particular, a good friend in the pup named Kapu.
More hardships unfold as Miyax and the pack make their way back to civilization, where she must make a difficult choice between staying or returning to the wilderness with her new family.
Winner of the Newbery Medal, this outstanding novel is rich and satisfying on many levels.
Library: Fredericktown Area Public Library, Fredericktown
Library director: Dawn Bell
Choices this week: “Old Bear” by Jane Hissey; “Stone Soup” by Marcia Brown; “Horrible Harry” series by Suzy Kline
The following books are available at bookstores:
A Hen for Izzy Pippik by Aubrey Davis and illustrated by Marie Lafrance (Kids can Press, 2012, 32 pages, $16.95 hardcover)
Read aloud: age 4 to 5 and older
Read yourself: age 7 to 8
Young Shaina is thrilled yet confused when a beautiful, exotic hen appears at her doorstep. An honest girl, Shaina is determined to find the hen’s owner and soon discovers that the hen belongs to a man named Izzy Pippik. But no one in town knows Izzy Pippik, and he can’t be found.
Life has taken a wrong turn in Shaina’s town. Jobs are few and food is scarce. And while many eye the hen as a good source of food, Shaina vows to keep the chicken alive and all her eggs (which soon hatch into endless chicks) and return them to Izzy Pippik when he surely will return to reclaim his property.
Readers will be bolstered by this plucky heroine, charming illustrations nd the surprise ending of good fortune created by one trustworthy girl who is true to her word. Quite simply, “A Hen for Izzy Pippik” is pure delight.
Lick! written and illustrated by Matthew Van Fleet (Simon & Schuster, 2013, 13 pages, $9.99 board book)
Read aloud: age 18 months to age 4
Read yourself: age 5 to 7
What can a tongue do? Open this fun book and find out!
Featuring loads of different animals, their tongues and what they can do with them, this rhyming touch-and-feel book with sturdy tabs to pull and a bonus noise-making tab, “Lick!” proves that a tongue is made for a lot more than just tasting.
Kendal Rautzhan can be reached at www.greatestbooksforkids.com.