How to Make Your Child a Reader for Life

From Barnes & Noble

We booksellers have all heard the statistics: More than twenty five percent of Americans have literacy problems that interfere with their jobs and personal lives. Forty-seven percent of us can't even use a bus schedule or write a brief letter about a billing problem. Half of adult americans can't read an eighth grade level book. Forty-four percent haven't read a single book in the past year.

These bad habits begin early. Apparently, we have pre-schooled our children to watch television (the average child enters kindergarten with 5000 hours of T.V. Watching!); yet we seem unable to energize our kids about reading. Paul Kropp, who has been teaching reading for twenty years, knows how to avert "fourth grade reading slump" and "ninth grade book boredom." His parent-centered instruction includes advice about strategies, book lists attuned to the needs of various ages & proclivities, and tips about making literacy the gift it really is.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's 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.)

Publishers Weekly

Veteran teacher Kropp has revised his earlier Raising a Reader to include up-to-date information on literacy and recommendations on current and classic books for children from infancy through the teen years. Kropp focuses on how parents' involvement is crucial to making a child a reader for life, offering up three essential rules ("3 R's") for reading: read with your child every day; reach into your wallet to buy good books; and rule the media by limiting time spent on TV, videos, video games and computers. Kropp covers reading methods such as phonics and whole language, as well as school issues, but emphasizes that the parent's role in developing a positive attitude toward reading is paramount, noting that statistics reveal a parent's attitude toward reading is the strongest predictor of whether a child will be a reader or not. Kropp prepares parents for "danger times" when kids may lose interest, notably at the fourth and ninth grade levels, and offers suggestions to keep children on target, including continuing to read aloud with older children and discussing reading materials as a family. He warns against artificial incentives or gimmicks and notes that modeling reading and staying involved in your child's progress is the best way to keep kids on track. Helpful lists of recommended books as well as titles specifically geared to satisfy reluctant readers are included. This is a useful volume for parents who are worried about their kids' reading development and success, packed with solid ideas for keeping the pages turning all through life. (Aug.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Kropp's Raising a Reader warned parents that "theories and procedures come and go," while the only proven path to reading proficiency is consistent application of the three Rs: read with your child every day, reach into your wallet to buy reading materials, and rule the TV. Ironically, this newly titled edition repeats that warning while basing its few substantive changes on some of those ephemeral theories. Kropp, a teacher and author of young-adult novels, introduces the concept of phonemic awareness but does little else to update the text. Readers may quibble with his "must-have" lists, which have shrunk from 15 to ten titles a piece, but what library staff may find most troubling is his statement that these books are worth buying or "borrowing for keeps." While either edition will provide excellent guidance and encouragement for parents, their academic value is diminished by the author's informal citation methods. Purchase accordingly.--Susan M. Colowick, North Olympic Lib. Syst., Port Angeles, WA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Library Journal

Teachers and parents can always use another book about good reading for children and young people. Kropp, a YA author (e.g., Moonkid and Liberty, Little, Brown, 1990), is comprehensive without being academic or prolix. His philosophy of the lifelong learner/reader guides the selection of books here from preschool through adulthood. Initial chapters encourage parents to become involved with the child's school. The remaining chapters are arranged by age group, with discussions and recommendations about lifestyles, schools, and parental roles in encouraging reading in the home. Each chapter concludes with a reading list accompanied by brief blurbs. Sidebars highlight Caldecott books, computer software books, and periodical sources. A valuable resource for home and classroom. Recommended for parenting and education collections.-Nancy E. Zuwiyya, Binghamton City Sch. Dist., N.Y.