In Robert McCloskey’s “Make Way for Ducklings,” young readers meet Mr. and Mrs. Mallard who are looking for a place to nest in Boston. They stop by the Public Garden and love the area but worry it is too busy for baby ducklings. They continue on and find a more secluded area. Once the ducklings hatch and are big enough for an adventure through Boston, they make their way back to the Public Garden and decide to make it their home.
I love when books take place in actual identifiable locations. Growing up reading books that took me to actual places made me want to see the world. Through books, I visited London, France, Boston. I traveled through time and visited stories of times past and what the future might be like. While the time travel books are more challenging to visit in real life, visiting the different locations I discovered through books is possible.
I love that you can visit the place and imagine the book happening all around you, so I’m sure you can imagine where I needed to stop on a recent trip to Boston…the Boston Public Garden to see the ducklings.
The Boston Public Garden is extra special because not only does the book take place in the park but they brought the ducklings to the park with the amazing ducklings statue. To see the statue ducklings walking in a row through the park with the city in the background, it’s like a page of the book came to life. Taking young readers (or really readers of any age) to see the location of their favorite book helps them appreciate and experience the book in a whole new way.
I love a good series. I like that there is another book to look forward. I often read series after multiple books are out which is nice because I can run and grab the next book as soon as I finish one. Over the past few years, I’ve gotten into a few series as they were being written, so I’ve had to wait for the next book.
While I may not be the most patient person, I recommend reading a series while it is being written, and to follow the author on social media during that process. Following the author is great because they give little glimpses into the next book. One author we follow has shared small bits of conversation from the next book giving just enough to make you really curious where the story is going. Sometimes they share a few deleted scenes from the book as well.
The authors tend to do a lot of buildup on social media prior to the release of the next book. If the previous books are already best sellers, the authors may do pre-order incentives. We’ve preordered multiple books in Shannon Messenger’s “Keeper of the Lost Cities” series and Messenger does a great pre-order incentive (which has been different for each book so it’s worth pre-ordering all of them). When you pre-order the book and send in your receipt, you may receive a signed book plate sticker, other stickers related to the book, a drawing of a character, or other items that make young readers excited about the book to come. The authors also will share social media if they are doing a book tour or online book discussions.
While it is exciting to be able to race through an entire series, reading one as it is being written brings its own excitement. All of these things build anticipation for a book and make young (and older) readers so excited to read the next book. Waiting for the next book builds anticipation and teaches readers like me patience.
Every December when I was small, my mom would pull out the holiday bins to decorate. Ah, I loved holiday bin day. She would begin decorating and I would look through all the boxes finding my favorite holiday things. We had this little toy bus with Santa riding on it…his head would move back and forth as the bus moved. I don’t know why I thought this was fabulous, but I did.
In between the decorations and ornaments were books…a few favorite holiday books that we packed away the previous January. Books I had forgotten about all year until I found them buried boxes. Books that suddenly pulled me in as I flipped through all the pages.
I’ve continued this tradition in my family. I pack a few favorite holiday books in the bins with the decorations to pull out the next year. When my children were small, they loved when I would pull the books out of the bins. They would flip through the pages. As they got older, they didn’t pick up the books to look through but occasionally would see one in the bin and say, “remember how much I loved that book!”
It’s just a few favorites (not hoarder level of books). The ones you don’t want to give away. The ones your children loved that you hope they read to their children someday and say, “this was my favorite book when I was your age.” While there will be years that you simply move the books to the side and don’t unpack them, just seeing those couple favorites in the bin will make you smile.
It might be many years before my children flip through the pages of the books in our holiday bins again, but I will save those favorite children’s books for that day. Maybe they will read it to a younger cousin or a niece or nephew or someday their own children. I just hope someday, in their holiday decorations box, they keep a couple favorite books from their childhood that will remind them of Christmas years ago when we read those stories.
My birthday is at Thanksgiving which is a weird holiday to sometimes share a birthday with, simply because I share the day “sometimes.” My family always made a big deal of my birthday on Thanksgiving whether it was that specific day or not.
One year when I was small and my birthday was really on Thanksgiving, my mom took me to see the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. As we walked to the parade route, I saw the first balloon go by from afar. Down the street, between the buildings, I saw a giant balloon and it was more amazing that I ever imagined. TV didn’t do it justice. They are huge and that first balloon will always be one of my favorite Thanksgiving birthday memories. The parade was amazing, but that first balloon sighting was the best.
The Thanksgiving parade is still one of my favorite parts of the day (along with pie, obviously). I’ve been to many Thanksgiving parades since and even lived my dream of being a giant balloon handler in the Stamford parade a few years ago. Yes, I walked a giant dragon through the streets of Stamford!
As we get closer to Thanksgiving, here are a couple amazing Thanksgiving parade books. My first pick is Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade by Melissa Sweet. I love this book (and the illustrations). Sweet introduces readers to the true story of Tony Sarg, who invented the giant balloons we see in the Thanksgiving Parade.
Another favorite Thanksgiving parade book is Milly and the Macy’s Parade by Shana Corey. While the characters and Mr. Macy’s involvement in starting the parade are fictious, it is based on the creation of the parade. Prior to reading this book, I didn’t know that Macy’s employees from other countries who were feeling homesick as the holidays approached brought traditions from their countries to the parade.
Both of these beautiful picture books based on the history of the parade are wonderful additions to your Thanksgiving traditions. Read the books then watch the parade (on tv or in person). Both stories bring even more magic to the Thanksgiving Parade.
Every parent has experienced the battle between “do this, it’s good for you” and the child’s “but I don’t want to!” So how do we encourage reading without pushing too much and facing resistance? Here are a few suggestions:
Avoid commenting on the level of the book.
Yes, there are times when your child will need to push themselves to read something harder or at their appropriate level for school reading, but if you child is choosing to a read a book on their own….let them! They chose to read. Maybe the book is too young for them, but maybe they find comfort in revisiting a favorite character. One of my children read the same book many times. I tried suggesting something else, but if she was going to read for her own enjoyment, she liked visiting those characters again.
Do a family read aloud.
Take turns reading the book out loud. See who can come up with the best voices for each character. Have your child sit next to you so they hear the story while looking at the words on the page. This is a great way to start a book a child might be hesitant to read because there are more words on the page or bigger words than they are used to seeing in books. If you don’t know how to pronounce a word, mispronounce it. Let them know it’s ok to not know how to pronounce the word. The first time I read Harry Potter, I struggled with Hermione. I had never seen that name before and had not yet seen the movies.
Check out library programs.
The library is an incredible resource. They have so many classes and programs that revolve around books. Tell a librarian your favorite book and they will have several suggestions of other books you will likely enjoy. Libraries have family reads, crafts revolving around books, prizes for summer reading, and it’s free!
Ask your child for a book recommendation.
Whenever one of my children would see me reading a book they recommended, it made them so happy. It reinforces that you value the books they enjoy, that you enjoy those books as well. It makes them feel pride in their book selection.
Read the book…watch the movie.
I love this one because a good movie night is always fun. Make popcorn (a special treat in our house is to put some m&m’s in with the popcorn) and watch the movie after you finish the book. Depending on the movie, you can take the theme as big or as small as you would like. Make a meal from the book if there is a lot of food mentioned throughout the story. Take advantage of pinterest…so many great ideas there to make the book come alive through some simple (and some complicated for those who like a challenge) decorations.
Model reading.
Read. Children notice what we do. They notice a lot of things we don’t think they see. Let them see you reading. Tell them about your book. Maybe the story line is not small child appropriate but tell them something about your book. Simply “my book is so good; I can’t wait to see how it ends!” Let them know you are excited to read your book. Children remember the things you dread and the things you enjoy. Showing them your love for reading helps foster their love of reading.
If you have other suggestion on how you make reading fun, please share them!
