About Reading and Good Reads

Good books are a commodity in our household.

My little bookworm.

We are always pulling out books to read to the kids. I guess it’s because we – DD and I – both love books, and were both avid readers in our childhood.  Yes, I was one of those kids who read under the bedcovers with my torchlight just so I could finish a book when my mother deemed it past my bedtime. I remember getting into trouble quite a bit for that and don’t relish having to go through the same thing with my kids! I still love having a book in hand, and when I get started on an interesting one, you’ll find me walking around – and doing everything – with my nose in the book the whole day.

I am very glad that Noey has also developed a love for books. From the time he started on solids, DD and I used to read to him over every single meal, because that was the only way we could get him to eat. He was SO HARD to feed, and since we insisted that he sit in his highchair for meals and did not want to stick him in front of a screen, reading to him was the only way we could get him seated and distracted enough to eat his food. He’s a much better eater these days, though he still belongs to that category of people who eat to live. Till this day, he still asks to bring a book to the table at mealtimes, though we have cut down on this practice a great deal to encourage him to just eat.

Reading with R at the bookstore. The type of “date” Mummy approves of!

Many people have commented on Noey’s reading ability, which is, admittedly, rather advanced. At about 3.5 years, he started really reading, effortlessly reading signs on walls, instruction manuals, and headlines in the newspaper over my shoulder, in addition to his own books. He corrects me when I read a sentence wrongly, and points out lines that I’ve missed. There’s no fooling him now! Folks ask me what we did to get him reading so well, and I tell them honestly that it’s really just his love for books that helped him start reading. We did do a little here and there, but he mostly picked it up on his own, with the help of some phonics he learnt in school. I also think that part of the reason he reads so well is because all the books we’ve read to him have helped expand his vocabulary, so he is able to draw upon that to make a good guess at a word from it’s context.

I think as parents, we are all eager to start our kids on their reading journey. I remember feeling the same way when Noey showed no interest in learning his letters. What this experience has taught me is that perhaps the best thing to do is really just to cultivate in the children a love for books. That is where the treasure lies, and it is that love for books that is going to spur them to learn to read, and later, to love to read.

Learning about instruments before bedtime.

What having two kids has taught me, however, is that each child is different, even if they have the same parents!

Naomi has been a different kettle of fish. While Noey took to reading (or at least flipping through) books easily and rather early, she sees books in a different light.

Books are made for munching! In this picture, she is 10 months old, taking her first steps.

She goes for the gimmicks like the light, sound and touch-and-feel, but for a long time, wasn’t too interested in what we were reading otherwise. I’ve learnt to try new things with her, like singing, dancing, and acting out parts, all in a bid to grab her attention. Interestingly, she shows more of an interest in flashcards. We might be exploring something different along this avenue soon, so stay tuned for that.

More interested to go shopping with her “bags” than read!

At least I know that she has her Gor-gor’s example to follow. She’s finally starting to show some interest and would point out pictures in her books. More often than not though, she only wants to read the pages she’s interested in and will toss the book aside thereafter. Still, at least we’re making some progress.

Anyway, the reason for this post is really because I’ve been asked on several occasions by friends to recommend books and authors we enjoy. I thought it was a good opportunity to start a series of posts on some of the books and writers that we love, to share with everyone, and also as a reminder to myself. I’ll be starting this off with some recommendations of Books on Space that are among Noey’s favourite, and I hope to write about a different favourite author about once a week. Hopefully this would help you in your quest to find good books for your pre-school kids too.

Akan datang, ok?