Whether toddlers' books or teenagers' books, keep your children reading throughout the summer with these handy timesaving tips. Keep their brains burning and their imaginations soaring with popular children's books.

And be sure to check out the book suggestions for reluctant readers!

Tip 1: Be a reading role model.
Don't just tell your child to read -- let him see you reading! This will encourage him to read for himself or have you read to him.

Tip 2: Get your child a magazine subscription to a hobby that she loves (even comic books).
When a child receives a magazine in the mail with her name on the address label, this turns an ordinary magazine into something special. If the magazine is about something your child loves (soccer, baseball, sports, Superman, Pokemon, etc.) she is excited about reading it and usually can't wait.

Tip 3: If your child sees a movie that he really likes, go to the bookstore and find a book about it.
Every bookstore carries movie tie-ins. These are books that are written based on a children's movie. Usually the movie is just released or an old favorite. Every Disney movie has book tie-ins. There are also Scooby-Doo books, Star Wars (old and new), Rugrats, and many other movie books.

Tip 4: Entice your child with a riddle or joke book.
Some children will adamantly refuse to show any interest in books regardless of what the book is about. Find a joke or riddle book and have it handy in the car. When driving to errands, pull the book out and ask your child to ask you some riddles or tell you some jokes. This will get him going.

Tip 5: Read recipes or directions on a project.
Pull out some cookbooks or go to the craft store and buy a project to build together. Have your child read the recipe to bake the food or read the directions to build the project. If she can't read the recipe or directions (or won't read them in some cases), then the food or project doesn't get completed.

Tip 6: Household reading
Have everyone in the house read or look at a book or magazine for a short period of time at least once a day. If schedules don't permit this, try to make this a regular practice at least four times a week.

Tip 7: Don't use reading as a punishment.
Whatever you do as a parent, don't use reading as a punishment. Make sure that reading is considered a pleasure. Reading is fun. Don't say, "Go to your room and read! No more TV!"

Tip 8: Ask your child to help you find out about something you need to know, like a vacation site or consumer information.
If a child has a vital interest in finding out where he's going for vacation (and what there is to do there), he will become private investigators in finding information. Find something that you're going to buy, go visit, thinking of doing this summer and have your child find information about it.

Tip 9: Write a book together.
During the summer, write a book together with your child. Have your child write a sentence or two at the end of each day. By the end of the summer, the book will be finished. Use a spiral bound notebook, or separate pages to put together when the book is finished. At the end of the summer, present the book to the whole family and read it together.

Tip 10: Read everywhere
Everywhere you go, read aloud with your child. In the grocery store, read signs. Traveling on long trips or short ones, read road signs, magazines, newspaper stories -- all sorts of things.

To keep your children reading throughout the summer, keep print materials scattered all over the house. Suggest your child read something aloud to you while you fix dinner or fold clothes.

Never force him to read. Visit the library, listen to storytellers, let him see you reading, read aloud funny things to them. Try to keep him interested in reading and he will retain more knowledge through the summer. If you make something fun, children will want to do it more and more.

Make reading fun. Discover for yourself the joy of reading a good book. Find the time!

Have a reluctant reader or two at your house? Here are some books that just may tempt them:

Suggested Books for Reluctant Readers: 

Preschool-Grade 1:

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs - Sciescka
Jumanji - Van Allsburg
Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain - Aardema
Miss Nelson is Missing - Allard
Prince Cinders - Cole, B.
Are You My Mother? - Eastman
Bugs! - McKissack
Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping - Parish
Mommies Don't Get Sick - Hafner
The Best Trick of All - Dale

Grades 2-4

A Light in the Attic - Silverstein
The New Kid on the Block - Prelutsky
The Frog Prince, Continued - Sciescka
Poisonous Creatures - Aaseng
How To Be Cool in Third Grade - Duffey
Pee Wee Scouts Series - Delton
Go Fish - Stolz
The Hundred Penny Box - Mathis
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears - Aardema
The Gold Cadillac - Taylor

Grades 5-8

Grossology Begins at Home: The Science of Really Gross Things in your Everyday Life - Branzei
Ella Enchanted - Levine
School's Out - Hurwitz
Superfudge - Blume
Sideways Stories from Wayside School - Sachar
Encyclopedia Brown - Sobol
Battle for the Castle - Winthrop
Aliens Ate My Homework - Coville
Howliday Inn - Howe
Soup - Peck
Shiloh - Naylor


Sherry Bowen is a media specialist and parent in Buford, Georgia.