Elephant Books Authors on Creating Life-Long Readers

Welcome to Elephant Notes . . . our periodic take on some of the ideas, issues, and news impacting parents, children, and reading. This week, some of our authors on creating life long readers. 

Looking back at some of the authors we have interviewed over the past year or so, we found that they’ve given some interesting insights and opinions on how life-long book lovers come to be. In our interviews, we’ve asked these authors to reflect on their own journeys as young readers to see if perhaps there’s something in the proverbial water. We’ve also asked them, however, to provide advice to parents who want to inspire a similar love of reading in their children. The answers to both of these questions are quite interesting and insightful. Here is what they have said.

Michael Hale
 I loved reading as a child. Especially picture books. We all remember our favorite books from childhood. I kept mine and as I grew older and became interested in art, I went back to my old picture books again and again for inspiration. They only way I know to develop a love of reading in your children is to read to them. Parents are the key. It is up to parents to expose their children to new stories, new ideas and show them that there are exciting worlds waiting to be discovered inside of every book.

Calista Brill
 Find books that you both like. The more you enjoy it yourself, the more you’ll be willing to sit with your kids and read those books over… and over… and over… and over… Also, and I’m terrible at this — let your kids see *you* reading for fun. I read a lot of ebooks on my phone, so from my toddler’s POV I’m just always staring at a screen. So of course that’s all he wants to do, too! I’m trying to remember to read more on paper, so that he can see what I’m up to.

Tim Hamilton
 When I had books to look though, I loved reading them. I loved good stories, which is an obvious statement. What I mean by that is that I knew we were getting these short books to read in 7th grade that were mandated as part of a course. I guess those books did their job, but they were pretty silly and weak plot wise! But yes, whether it was comics I bought or books we were assigned in school (they assigned good books too!) I enjoyed reading. 

Thus, I would recommend exposing kids to as many types of book as you possibly can at the library or at home. When we were assigned books to read in school I was excited, but noticed many other kids groaned in dread. I don’t have a solution for that, but would hope parents and teachers approach reading a book as enjoyment. I mean, if a student loves cars and working on engines, it seems obvious he or she may like to read a book about a famous race driver or the history of how a particular car was created. Curiosity is still what leads me to many books I read. Also, if parents (or older siblings) read books to their kids I think they will want to start reading those books themselves. I had to do that to see how The Hobbit ended!

Justin Roberts
 I did love to read as a child and it also inspired me to write rhymes when I was younger. My parents read to me a lot, I had a good personal library at home, but we also made many trips to the library to check out books. I think having access to a lot of stories is the first step and the library is a great way to facilitate this.

Sophy Henn
 I did love reading as a child as did my daughter, we were both read to at least once a day (I read to my daughter a lot as I was enjoying the books just much to be honest!) and I don’t think that is a coincidence. Read to you children as often as you can if you want them to love books, and it’s also such a lovely thing to do together.

Ben Joel Price
 I adored reading and being read to as a child. I still do and I’m nearly 40! Going by my own experience, I think a love of reading can develop by taking the time to read with children and making the experience fun. Ask them questions, adopt different characters’ voices, make sound effects and explore the richness of the illustrations. Take them on a journey, there are always hidden gems along the way.