Review: Born Reading Bringing Up Bookworms in a Digital Age -- From Picture Books to eBooks and Everything in Between by Jason Boog

SUMMARY FROM NETGALLEY.COM:

A program for parents and professionals on how to raise kids who love to read, featuring interviews with childhood development experts, advice from librarians, tips from authors and children’s book publishers, and reading recommendations for kids from birth up to age five.
Every parent wants to give his or her child a competitive advantage. In Born Reading, publishing insider (and new dad) Jason Boog explains how that can be as simple as opening a book. Studies have shown that interactive reading—a method that creates dialogue as you read together—can raise a child’s IQ by more than six points. In fact, interactive reading can have just as much of a determining factor on a child’s IQ as vitamins and a healthy diet. But there’s no book that takes the cutting-edge research on interactive reading and shows parents, teachers, and librarians how to apply it to their day-to-day lives with kids, until now.
Born Reading provides step-by-step instructions on interactive reading and advice for developing your child’s interest in books from the time they are born. Boog has done the research, talked with the leading experts in child development, and worked with them to compile the “Born Reading Essential Books” lists, offering specific titles tailored to the interests and passions of kids from birth to age five. But reading can take many forms—print books as well as ebooks and apps—and Born Reading also includes tips on how to use technology the right way to help (not hinder) your child’s intellectual development. Parents will find advice on which educational apps best supplement their child’s development, when to start introducing digital reading to their child, and how to use tech to help create the readers of tomorrow.
Born Reading will show anyone who loves kids how to make sure the children they care about are building a powerful foundation in literacy from the beginning of life.

MY TAKE:
I've been reading to my child since he was less than a month old, but I still worry that I'm not reading to him enough or I'm doing it wrong.

In Born Reading Bringing Up Bookworms in a Digital Age -- From Picture Books to eBooks and Everything in Between, parents learn techniques to improve the way they read stories to their children and ensure that they get the maximum learning experience they can from each book. The chapters are divided by the child's age, from birth until kindergarten and beyond.

Before reading this book, I didn't know that there were best practices when reading to kids. The author has a Born Reading Playbook guide at the start with the basic things that the parents should do or remember when reading to kids. They're pretty basic and easy to remember, so they should be easy to put to practice. The key is to remain consistent and try to make the experience as enjoyable and interactive for kids, even those who can't reply to your questions yet.

Some of the advice in the book were things that I already did, which is probably why my son has known for months now how to turn pages by himself. Oh, and if you're wondering if this is just some guy making things up or assuming things, it's not. There are plenty of interviews with authors, researchers and other professionals who can back up what he says.

Aside from the tips for interactive reading, the things I liked most were the book and app recommendations which were grouped by age. It's a great way to find new books and apps that your child may enjoy. There are also digital resources and audiobooks you can try.

Thanks to NetGalley and Touchstone for the e-ARC.

THE GOOD:

1. It's well-researched.
2. You'll discover lots of new books and apps your child may like.
3. You'll learn techniques that will enhance your child's reading experience. 

THE BAD:

1. Some may be tempted to skip ahead to the chapter that is relevant to their child. 

READ IT IF:

1. You want to instill a love for reading in your child.
2. You want to find more books and educational apps your child may like.
3. You want to be a better bedtime story reader for your child.

RATING:


SOUNDS INTERESTING?