How to Make Your Child a Reader for Life [Paperback]

Paul Kropp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 29, 1995

An important addition to the library of any parent who wants to give a child the gift of learning--and loving--to read.  Now updated with important advice about utilizing the Internet

You will learn:
- how and why you are integral to your child's reading progress
- how to read aloud with your child from birth through the teenage years
- how to use games and storytelling to make reading fun
- how to work with your child's teachers--sand what to do if the school        won't cooperate
- how to overcome reading slumps and book boredom
- how to nurture your gifted reader
- how to avoid gimmicks that will sidetrack you and your child
- how to find the best--and the safest--places on the Web for reading support and ideas

How to Make Your Child a Reader for Life includes lists of over three hundred "must-have" books you and your child can enjoy.  Broken down into different categories--easy books for reluctant readers, surefire books for bored readers, scary books, classic books, fantasy books, even books for adolescent readers who won't read anything!--How to Make Your Child a Reader for Life makes it easy for you to find the titles that will spark your child's imagination and make your child a reader for life.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The news about children's reading is not good. Only 45% of fourth graders read for pleasure and by twelfth grade, only 24% find joy in reading. But Paul Kropp, a teacher for 20 years and author of young adult novels, has better news: the road to reading can be paved by parents because "reading is not a skill, it is an attitude." How to Make Your Child a Reader for Life is a wonderfully practical primer about how families can discover the joy of reading together.

Kropp grounds his suggestions in the intriguing premise that reading is a social activity. He offers a crash course in "two thousand years of reading out loud" noting that for most of recorded history, reading silently was unusual and reading aloud was the norm. For example, medieval kings and queens had manuscripts read to them, St. Augustine read to the Benedictine monks, and Englishmen gathered in pubs for a reading of the latest installment of a Charles Dickens novel. Kropp urges parents to begin reading aloud to their babes in arms and to never stop reading together.

Kropp packs every page with energy, fresh ideas, must-read book lists and nongimmicky "reading solutions." He offers parents a "three R" model (read with your child every day, reach into your pocket to buy books, rule the media). Several chapters are devoted to the developmental ages and stages of reading--beginning with floating vinyl books in a baby's bath and ending with ideas for engaging what Kropp calls "aliterate" teens who can read, but don't. Other sections explore specific reading challenges including bored readers, reluctant readers, gifted readers, reading slumps, and "dysteachia" (bad teachers).

Kropp believes that reading should be a birthright for all of our children. The beauty of this book is that every chapter helps parents to deliver on this promise. Just imagine what might happen if a copy of How to Make Your Child a Reader for Life accompanied every newborn home from the hospital. --Barbara Mackoff

From Publishers Weekly

From "infant reading" (for even three-week-old babies) to tips on how to overcome inevitable reading slumps, Raising a Reader: Make Your Child a Reader for Life by Paul Kropp is packed with practical advice, including book recommendations, suggestions for reading-related activities and observations on recent trends in reading education. (Doubleday/Main Street, $12 paper, 224p ISBN 0-385-47913-1, Jan.)
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 206 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; 1st Main Street books ed edition (December 29, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385479131
• ISBN-13: 978-0385479134
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,709,317 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Readable and reassuring, August 14, 2000

By 

Karen Richter (Charleston, SC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Make Your Child a Reader for Life (Paperback)

Kropp has real-life advice for parents who believe, as he does, that reading is one of life's great joys. He emphasizes the importance of building a literate household--where fiction, nonfiction, magazines, and newspapers abound--and everyone reads. While you can't pick up a mainstream parenting magazine without seeing an article on the importance of reading to your baby, Kropp deals with keeping your child out of reading slumps throughout school and with or without the support of an 'A' school and teacher to lead the way.

It's a quick read (ironically) and a great resource for parents.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very informative in helping parents over "rough" times, May 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Make Your Child a Reader for Life (Paperback)

I liked and used many of the author's ideas on how to raise a child who loves to read. In particular, the suggestion to keep reading to a child who does not want to read on his own was a very good idea. Definitely a worthwhile book to add to the library.

5.0 out of 5 stars Get this book!, September 5, 2009

By 

l - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Make Your Child a Reader for Life (Paperback)

Reassuring yet truthful, this book is extremely well-organized and clearly written. The sidebars make it feel less like a textbook and the focus on real-world examples make it easy to implement. I read this as a parent, but I'm looking into using some of the ideas as a teacher. Buy it for a new parent!