How to Get Your Screen-Loving Kids to Read Books for Pleasure - Kaye Newton

These days it seems like getting kids to read anything that doesn’t involve a screen and various silly emoticons is all but impossible. Even though the sale of young adult books is at an all time high, over fifty percent of those sales are not to young adults, rather it’s to those of us who enjoy the genre. In this short but very informative book, Kaye Newton explores a variety of ways to entice your child to read something other than a text message. If you’re a parent or even an educator who wants to encourage a love of reading, then this is the book that is perfect to have on hand. Ms. Newton has a wonderful style of writing that flows along easily and manages to provide an incredible amount of information without crossing over to the generally boring expert babble. She provides a very honest and realistic view of reasons why your child isn’t reading and how to get them to cross over into the land of book lovers. In this book, Ms. Newton also devotes a chapter to helping children with learning disabilities discover books that are age appropriate yet ones that they can still comfortably read at their level. Throughout, numerous websites are provided that will give still more information about how to assess your child’s reading level and also give ideas of books that will match that reading level.

                There are many things I enjoyed about Ms. Newton’s book but the biggest one is the way she peppers her own experiences with her children throughout the book. She doesn’t profess to be perfect and readily admits that each of her children have different levels of a love for reading. She explains how she gets them to read a little more (bribery with a little extra screen time is a good beginner strategy) and she also gives ideas of what they like to read. It makes her seem, to me, more believable in her ideas regarding this subject and not somebody who has no experience in the matter. I also loved the numerous book suggestions throughout and I will be sure to explore them in the future.

                This is a book that every parent should check out as I’m sure they’ll find it very useful. I read this in digital format and it translated well. The cover is not particularly eye-catching and it may be something to think about tweaking in the future.