Christine, I have said it repeatedly before here, so I shall refrain from going through the whole rigmarole again:
Children who grow up in a household where reading good books is a normal way of life are miles ahead in learning to read and learning to love reading. My mother took me to the library when I was "too young" to have a library card, even though I could sign one, and took out books that she enjoyed as a girl.
All of Louisa May Alcott, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and L.M. Montgomery; "Treasure Island" and all of the "color" fairy books; loads of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys and those lousy Bobbsey Twins; lots of geography and "Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare" and even some Bulfinch--I had read this stuff before I walked into the first-grade classroom. "See Spot run. Run, Spot, run." could not break the joy I had already learned. The Jesuits were onto something when they said, if you can get a child before he/she is seven, you have a chance to set the mold of the life.
I don't have any experience with the current pre-pre-pre-school world, not having any young children of my own. I am getting mixed reports from the parents who are friends. However, I do know that my parents made all the difference in making "reading more joyous and meaningful," in creating a hunger for reading, as you put it. They read a great deal and obviously enjoyed it. The place was full of books, from the classics to fun mysteries. It was their obvious pleasure that made me want to read and want to learn as early as I did. |
