Celebrate National Reading Month

For a true book lover, every month is reading month, but for the rest of the country, March is officially National Reading Month! We’re already almost halfway through the month, but it’s not too late to promote awareness.

The challenge of National Reading Month is giving young readers the opportunity to be exposed to more books, and hopefully make a habit of reading. By taking just 15 minutes every day this month, parents, librarians, and teachers can help promote the importance of reading, writing, and literacy. Does it seem a little difficult to set aside that 15 minutes every day to sit and read out loud? Here are some scary statistics about what it means to read to children:

• Research has shown gaps in brain development of children whose parents read to them and whose parent did not by the age of three.
• By age four, low income children have read an average of 32 million fewer words that their wealthy peers. If children can’t afford to buy books, invite them to your library for reading times.
• Higher income houses included, about 40 percent of families do not read every day.
• There is an 88 percent chance that if a child who can not read at grade level by the end of first grade, they will also not be reading at their level by age four.

It’s easy to make reading fun. For smaller children, make exciting voices and wild sound effects, and act out part of the story. For older children, take family time to all sit down and read each member’s chosen book. Children are never too young or old to learn that reading is fun, adventurous, relaxing, exhilarating – preaching to the choir here! So let’s celebrate National Reading Month with books on books on books!