Customer Reviews

Reading Together: Everything You Need to Know to Raise a Child Who Loves to Read

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Reading Together: Everything You Need to Know to Raise a Child Who Loves to ReadWhat a valuable book for all parents to read. In Reading Together, Diane Frankenstein has given me the tools to jump-start meaningful conversations with my children about the books they read. In addition this book is filled with book titles I was not familiar with prior to purchasing Reading Together. Their isn't a parent in the world who doesn't want what is best for their child. What I have learned from reading this book is a gift I will pass to my kids as we read and talk together. I wish this book was available when my kids were in pre-school! This book provided me with ideas and tools to help my children not only enjoy what they are reading, but will stimulate conversations to make connections from books to the world. By simply talking about the books with my kids their level of reading pleasure is sure to increase. Now that I have read Reading Together I now know that there is a lot to talk about in a picture book! With the kids back in school, and our new nightly reading routine, I am excited to use what I have learned in this book with my kids, their teachers, and the other parents in our community.

As parents, we want to help our children become successful readers, but the question is how can we best help our children? Diane Frankenstein has just published a wonderful resource to help parents do just this: raise a child who loves to read.

Countless research has shown that parents have a tremendous impact on helping their children learn to read successfully. But how do we help our children become "good" readers? Reading Together explains that it is through reading for pleasure that children will read more, enjoy reading and become better readers. The first step for parents is to help your child find books that they enjoy and can read successfully - a book that is at their reading level and one that engages them.

Reading Together suggests over 100 different books that work with children - that are fun to read, interesting, engaging. But Frankenstein goes further. She provides questions, ideas, things to think about, to help parents engage their children with reading.

"Children need the adults in their lives to show them how to better understand and make a story their own. We best support them in this endeavor by having conversations that engage children in the stories they read."

Parents are wonderful resources to help children find the right books. You know your child's interests, what they're curious about, what makes them laugh. You know your child's emotional maturity, what issues and conflicts they can handle. This book helps take what we know as parents, find books that will work with our children, and then helps us talk with our children about these stories. This is Reading Together's winning equation:

"Help children find an appropriate book

+ talk with them about the story

= children who connect with storeis and love the stories they read"

The heart of the book is Story Pages: 101 books to explore with your child. I love the selection of books - they range from classics like Bridge to Terabethia to wonderful new books like Scaredy Squirrel or A Bad Case of Stripes. She explores books I love, and books I hadn't heard of and now want to go find. Here's an example of a Story Page from Reading Together, looking at the story Hunter's Best Friend at School. I don't know this book, but it looks like a great book for my kindergartner - I've already put it on hold at the library!

For each book, Diane gives a brief summary, lists the ideas and subjects the book explores, and then shares questions to get a conversation started and help you look closer at the story, bringing it from the plot to the personal. It's a wonderful format, easy to browse but also easy to dig into. It will stay on my shelves for years to come.

Infrequently a book comes along that actually delivers on its promise. "Reading Together" is such a book. Although in the "How to" category it is not simplistic nor does it talk down to the reader. In simple, elegant prose the author delineates her method to help children develop a passion for reading through conversations about the books they read. Parents, teachers, et al have been given a gift: a book that is gimmick free but has valuable tips on how to reach a book with your children and engage them intellectually and emotionally. Frankenstein's point is that a book provides great leverage with caretakers enabling to not just share a reading experience, but through a serious of provocative questions enable the child to think creatively about the book. Suddenly, the child is relating his/her experiences with the characters of the book, making them real and relevant to their own lives. Fanatsy is transmuted into reality. But this is not alchemy, but an intelligent method of drawing a child into the world of the story, which ultimately becomes the child's story. The net effect is that children will learn to love reading as they see themselves in the story.

The method is enhanced by actually using specific books with specific questions that provoke conversation and a list of the author's top book selections and conversational themes. All in all, a terrific new approach to an old problem...and one that works.

I have three kids, two established readers and one who is just now "blooming" her way into chapter books. How I wish this book had been available when my two older kids were starting out on the path to reading. I can't begin to tally the hours spent in libraries and bookstores, rifling through titles, reading book jackets, in order to find age-appropriate stories that would "hook" my kids. Familiar as I am with picture books, I routinely lost my literary leverage when it came to helping my older kids (now 14 and 12) select early reader and chapter books where the page counts were higher and themes sometimes less obvious. There was a lot of trial and error involved in our book selecting.

This book is the next best thing to having your own personal reading consultant right there with you, selecting books that are kid-tested for reading enjoyment. My eight-year-old daughter has no shortage of great book recommendations to consider. Frankenstein's book is so user friendly that my daughter and I use it to select titles together based on its story synopsis and "World of Ideas" thematic bullets.

One of the book's biggest selling points for me is that it suggests ages when the child might read a book independently. This is a big deal: The worst thing a parent can do is give a fledgling reader a book they can't grasp--either textually or conceptually--and leave them demoralized.

There's such a delicate balance involved with raising a child to read. A parent can be none too careful. Diane Frankenstein makes this risky proposition so much less hairy with this book. Better late than never it landed in our home. It's all very empowering--as well a good read should be.

This book is a fabulous resource for anyone connected with raising or educating children. I wish I had it when my own four children were growing up. It will help with making valuable connections to a child at any age. The book is so well put together and easy to access.

As a Grandmother of almost 5 , with more to come, I have found this book such a great reference when selecting stories for my bunch.

What amazes me most is how clear, simple and understandable Mrs. Frankenstein has made selecting books for my grandchildren. "Reading Together," is a must for any library, night stand or coffee table.

Upstate Nana who loves to read!

As a father of a 4 and 2 year old this book is exactly what I was looking for. It not only gives you a list of all the great books out there for your children of all ages to read, but it also give a curriculum to help engage the kids in the stories and give them the love of reading. All nursery schools should be handing this out to their parents in their welcome packets.

I love to read and want my kids to love it too. Reading Together is a fantastic resource, and I can hardly believe that there's been nothing like it before. In Reading Toegether, Diane Frankenstein introduced me to hundreds of books that make great read-alouds or read-alone stories. She includes classics and contemporary titles, many of which I wouldn't know about if it wasn't for her. Each page highlights a children's book, and includes easy jump-start conversations for parents and their kids. And... the author has an index of books by subject (e.g., bullying, friendship, loss) so that it's easy to find the right story for the moment. Diane Frankenstein has just made parenting a little bit easier and a lot more fun!

As a Reading Intervention teader in an elementary school, I loved Diane Frankenstein's book, Reading Together. The students I work with struggle with the simple act of reading. It's vital to them, as well as all readers, to read with an adult and discuss plot, characters, and various themes that emerge. So many times when our children become proficient readers, we expect them to read alone. This book emphasises the connection a parent or teacher could make with a child by discussing and expanding their thinking. I loved the different conversation starters to get kids thinking on a much deeper level. This book is well-organized and it's easy for anyone to use--educator or parent. It is a great resource!

I wonder how much smarter I'd be today if my parent's had this book when I was a child...I'm always overwhelmed by the number of books in a library or bookstore. And who has time to read them all and takes notes on the story for a discussion? Reading Together is great because Diane Frankenstein has done so much of the work already. It's great to take advantage of her research and notes and be prepared.