I was an avid reader as a child myself, because my parents encouraged me to read. Library summer book reading clubs are still going strong just as they were when I was growing up. Children still get excited about showing off all the books they've read.

When picture books have price tags of $15 to $20, most families can only afford a few. It doesn't mean they have stopped reading them; they are just frequenting the library more often.

I am currently reading the book, Yes! You can Learn How to Write Children's Books, Get Them Published and Build a Successful Writing Career by Nancy Sanders.I am blogging my reaction and results. If you would like to hear about the results in action, here is where you can read more… http://TheWriteChris.blogspot.com

This is why I love the web. It gives people access to a whole bunch of librarians and their recommendations. It's particularly great for those of us whose librarians have disappeared in budget reductions, leaving us with those nice volunteers who only know how to look up reading lists in the three ring binder behind the desk.

I've never heard of a kid saying s/he needs a more challenging book. It's always the parents who are dying to brag to their friends that their 5-year-old is reading Harry Potter.

Anon 11:12, I think you have the age old problem of people making assumptions and working from them. I think your child's teacher has either dealt with high-presssure parents before, or she's been warned about them in her professional training. Assuming that you are the kind of parent who won't let your kid read "easy" books, she casts all of her rhetoric to balance what she sees as your bad influence on your kid's reading.

So she's over-correcting because she wants kids to learn to love reading. I think you should go talk to your teacher and emphasize that you want your son to feel confident that he can pick out ANY book he is interested in and that if it appears to be too difficult he should be encouraged to check out another book– as well as– not instead of– the book that interests him.

A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?

On another note, as a parent (as opposed to a librarian/reviewer), I'm experiencing the opposite these days. Should I be alarmed that my first-grader, in playing "teacher," snatches books away from me, saying "That's too hard!"?

The teacher has already explained to us that it's vitally important to her that students have success reading independently, so they get a "feel" for how awesome that is. That means, books they can read independently are often simpler than some that pique their interest.

I like Roger's distinction between books for schoolWORK/homeWORK, and just plain books. At home, perhaps, my son can read whatever he wants. At school, since there's a particular goal in mind (success in independent reading), perhaps the limits to his choices are ok?

Thoughts?

2:17