How To Get A Kid To Read

   I'm an avid reader; I know that is kinda like saying the sky is blue, but I have a point with making that my leading sentence. Also, I raised a daughter that is an avid reader. But I don't really think I can take a ton of credit for that, you see, my mother is also an avid reader: I think it's genetic. Regardless, I have been asked for tips from several people about getting kids to read, so I thought I'd say what I think. In saying what I think, however, I need to also explain that what I think did NOT work whatsoever on my niece. She doesn't like to read and none of my tips worked. So take this with a grain of salt. That being said, here is my opinion on the best way to get kids to read.
   1. Read out loud to your kid, and start as soon as possible. I started reading to mine at birth. She didn't get to choose the books at first, because she didn't care and couldn't talk to tell me what she wanted, so her first books consisted of The Lord of The Rings trilogy, but even that got her into  the ritual of reading, and that is so important.
   2. Poems; specifically silly poems like those written by Shel Silverstein. For a kid with a short attention span, poems are shorter than stories and the silly ones about being eating by boa constrictors, picking your nose, and being buried by garbage can catch a young reader's fancy.
   3. Dr. Seuss is your friend. Actually, any books that rhyme and can be read in a rhythm are good. My daughter loved those best when she was still reading books for young children. She wanted them to be read as often as possible, and if you didn't read them in rhythm, she would make you start over and "read the book right".
   4. As your kid gets older, let them choose the books that they read. Don't outlaw things like comic books and manga. They may seem frivolous, but any book reading is building skills such as vocabulary, imagination, critical thinking, comprehension, and so-on. Over time, those skills will translate to other things, such as that science article their teacher wants them to read or that chapter in the history book. The important thing is for them to enjoy reading, so that they will build these skills. So if what they want to read is the newest Spiderman comic, then go for it. If all they want to do is sing a song, find song lyrics online, and print them out so that they can read the lyrics and sing along to their favorite songs. Get creative.
   5. When your child starts reading to you, don't get impatient when they are sounding out words. Let them do that themselves. My daughter got really angry when I would give a word away. I suggest only helping them when they ask for the help. For me, this is good training for school, because whoever their teachers are, they are not going to know if your kid needs help unless they speak up. Patience is really key, not matter how much the kiddos are stumbling with the words, and really, they get so happy when they read you a book all on their own.
   6. Continue reading out loud even when your child is proficient in reading. Reading is good quality time regardless. Also, talk to your kid about books they have read. Read what they read so that you can talk about story plots and discuss characters. These kids are going to have to show that they can analyse text; this is great practice.
   7. Don't use reading as a punishment. They have to read in school; they are required all through elementary to take AR tests on reading. You want to have reading a book to have as many positive connotations as possible. So don't say in frustration, "You're never playing a video game again! All you are going to do is sit in your room and read a book for the next week!" (I say this because I've actually made the mistake of saying this myself.) You don't want reading to feel like a punishment.
   I don't know if this will actually help anyone. Every kid is different and they all learn in different ways. This is what I did though, and maybe one or two of the things I've written will give you ideas or help you out if you are struggling to get a child to read. I hope so, at any rate. And if you are reading this, and you have tips to add, please do so in the comment section! I know a few families who struggle with this, and I'm sure they would love the tips!

Bad News, Cashier-Brain, and Books (Yay! Books!!!)

   Currently, I'm on vacation, or staycation, because we are just staying home in our apartment, with no travel plans, nor any other plans, come to think of it. The only hard and fast plan that I did have was to go see Divergent, and to spend the night at my sister's and watch some scary movies, and I've done both (I loved Divergent!). So I have a line of empty days ahead of me and my daughter, who is on spring break.
   And that's a good thing, because I was seriously suffering from a strong case of cashier-brain. I was seeing PLU numbers (price look-up codes) every time I shut my eyes. I was hearing that blasted beeping even when I had left the stores, and my last two vivid nightmares had both been about work. That's too much; that is a sign. Marie needs a break, clearly written across my psyche.
   Of course, come time for me to take my break, everything starts happening. I have had a shit-storm of bad news that I can't really do anything about, which is one of the worst types of bad news there is. Not being able to do anything kinda makes you feel like a glass of ice water in the North Pole: redundant. All I can do, over and over again, is say how sorry I am and that I'll pray, when I would much rather charge in, fix everything, and have us all live happily ever after. But all I can do is sit here and worry.
   And then on top of that, every nuisance task that can manage to rear it's ugly head comes along, such as having to fill out paperwork and provide documentation that your daughter really is your daughter, so that your insurance won't drop her as a dependent on your coverage. I mean, yeah, that's easy enough to prove, but I didn't exactly want to take time from my worry and fret to mess around with my damn insurance, for a matter that I think is a bunch of bullshit at any damn rate. Even if my daughter wasn't my daughter, I still feel that I should be allowed to cover her on my insurance if I want to. But she is my daughter, so the whole mess is just minor aggravation that I'm just shrugging at.
    But this is my vacation, so I am making effort to do things that I like, so last night, I stayed up and read Night Broken, which is book number eight in the Mercy Thompson series, and which also happens to be my most favorite urban fantasy series ever. I love Patricia Briggs, and yes, I did sit down and read the book from start to finish, secure in the knowledge that I am on vacation and would be able to sleep in. Most times when I sit down and read a book from start to finish, I read with the guilty knowledge that I am going to be a cashier-zombie in the morning.
    My daughter's pretty happy as well, because since we are on vacation, I just feel that she should have new material to read, so she's been coming to me with her Kindle, waiving the thing in my face with books already pulled up on the screen and ready to purchase, begging with her puppy-dog eyes, "Momma, please? Please, Momma?" I'm a sucker for this type of request, so she has scored The Fault With Our Stars, and all three of the books in The Maze Runner trilogy, so far. We are not even halfway through our vacation. She knows that when she asks me for a book, getting a yes is almost guaranteed, unless I truly am broke, and then, I guess I am lucky that she's a good kid, and doesn't give me a hard time about getting a no, because I know that I have spoiled her so far as getting knew books are concerned. I don't feel too badly about this, because I also know that I can be very strict about other things, and I do feel that while we really need to provide rules and boundaries for our kids, a small amount of spoiling never hurt anything, especially when you are talking about books.
   I did think I would write a little more than I have, but honestly, right now I am at a bit of a loss for topics. My mind keeps circling around that bad news that I have received -- my damn mind is like a freaking vulture and it's pissing me off, but what can you do when you get pissed at your own mind? And these topics are topics that I don't really feel at leisure to discuss, because frankly, they aren't my business to discuss, and if there is one thing I want to avoid, being the writer who writes about everyone else's business is one of them. I do NOT want people - friends and family - to feel like they can't talk to me about private things because they are worried they will show up in my blog. But at the moment, this does leave me without a topic, and thus you all get treated to this wandering ramble.  Happy staycation to me, and if nothing else, may I be cured from the cursed cashier-brain. 

Young Adult Books; Yet Another I Love Books Post

   In this past month I have read the complete Matched trilogy by Ally Condie, The Legend trilogy by Marie The Uglies series by Scott Westerfield, and the problem is, I just can't get enough. I caught myself searching on the Kindle book store, to see what other similar books they could recommend to me. Then, of course, I had to speak rather firmly with myself, because my daughter just had a birthday, and birthday expenses have depleted all of my spending money. I am going to be broke for a while and I can't buy all these books that Kindle is recommending. I am either going to have to wait or go to the library.
   But my pursuit of my next 'fix' got me thinking about books quite a bit. You see, as a tween and teen, for me, I spent all of my time browsing in the scifi/fantasy sections of bookstores and libraries, sections marketed towards adults. The reason for this twofold: I love scifi/fantasy for one, and for the other, there really wasn't a young adult section back in my day (I feel like a dinosaur for saying that, but at the same time, got a kick out of it as well. Don't judge.) I mean, supposedly there was one, but we are talking about one smallish bookshelf at the most. Back when I was a teen, you have children's, which was admittedly smallish, and everything else was adult. So an avid reader such as myself, I had to read the adult section.
   Not that this was really that bad, I mean, my first loves came from that scifi/fantasy adult section. Ann McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, Andre Norton, Stephen King (okay, he was in the horror section, and his books are scary, but go read The Talisman and The Gunslinger and tell me that's not fantasy), Piers Anthony -- I loved, and still love, all of these authors. But a lot of kids my age, they just didn't read, and I think that a lot of this not reading is due to the fact that there really weren't a lot of books marketed specifically for that youth group. The few authors that were out there - they didn't seem to get a ton of attention. Fast forward to today, and it seems like every young adult book is celebrated and is getting movie attention (Hunger Games, Divergent, ect).
   I was a teen when Harry Potter came out. His story caused an explosion in the book world. Suddenly, young people had a seriously recognized book with an author who became celebrated. Choices expanded. Then along comes the Twilight series (I was a mom already when this came out), which I have read and own, and liked - loved even - but as a horror fanatic, I find that I must, must, mock her version of vampires. (They are sparkle fairies!) But love Twilight or hate it, you can't deny that this book also exploded the book scene, and suddenly, there are young adult authors everywhere. New series everywhere, new authors all over the place, old ones getting recognition finally, their books in reprint, and the young adult section is finally more than one bookcase. Barnes and Nobles has an entire section, multiple bookcases, and a ridiculous shelving method that ensures that you find nothing. Old favored adult authors of mine, such as Juliet Marillier, now have expanded into the young adult section as well, not that you can find her with Barnes and Nobles shelving method. (Why can't they be alphabetical, by author, like every other section? That's what I really want to know.)
    And I can't stop reading this section, because they have all this dystopian fiction that I can't get enough of. Who knew that this was even a genre? Well, thanks to Suzanne Collins, it sure is now. And heck, go look up Carrie Ryan: The Forest of Hands and Teeth: youth zombie fiction. Awesomeness. And one of my newest favorite reads: The Lunar Chronicles. Fairy tale remakes with a rebellious, science fiction theme; Cinderella is now Cinder, the cyborg.I love it.
    And I am happy; my daughter has a ton of books to chose from. Sure, she's reading from the adult sections some, but the point is, she doesn't have to. There are a multitude of books for her to chose from, marketed towards her age. And the bonus? She doesn't even have to ask for me to buy most of them, because she knows I am gonna buy them anyway. (And the daughter scores!) Books sure have changed since I was my daughter's age, and personally, I love it. Happy reading.

You Let Your Kid Read WHAT???

   If you have been reading this blog at all, or if you just plain know me in real life, then you know that I am deadly passionate about books. Some people just think of books as fantasy, as something that is merely an escape from real life, but I also see books as a way to get to know the world, in a completely safe environment. Of course, books are also great entertainment, but that leads to another really important function: the expansion of the imagination. On a scholarly level, building vocabulary, learning new things, and so much more. Books are great, so as you can imagine, I highly encourage my daughter to read.
   Not many people have a problem with that. What some people have gotten all shocked and shaken about is what I let my daughter read. There is not much on my banned book list. In fact, the only thing that comes to mind is the 50 Shades of Gray trilogy. She is NOT reading that. I have, but she isn't. However, I have gotten some stares over the things that I do allow her to read.
  One of the lectures that I got was when I let her read The Golden Compass. A coworker (who is no longer even there) was all over me when he learned that she was reading this series. That book, according to him, encouraged devil worship. And my jaw dropped so low that it hit the floor. Criticism from someone who has obviously never even read the book they are complaining about is a pet peeve of mine, so instead of keeping my big mouth shut, I picked my jaw up off of the floor and fired back. As I have said before, I do believe in God, but I keep an open mind and try my best not to judge other's beliefs. However, devil worship (which I do not equate with Wiccan or Pagan, or other like beliefs, so cool your jets) in and of itself, is evil. The Devil, as in Lucifer, is a Christian belief, and the Devil is the evil side of our beliefs, so that is one thing I will not accept. I don't feel that I am being closed-minded in that regard, because someone who claims to be a true devil worshiper would understand what the Christian belief system was, and would follow my belief system, but on the dark side, so-to-say, and as such would be a person who practiced truly evil, immoral things. (Again, I do not equate alternative, non-Christian beliefs to this, so don't start firing at me.) And this book has absolutely nothing to do with devil worship what-so-ever. Only a person who has not read the book themselves would come up with such straight out-and-out bullshit. And furthermore, let me spell something out for everyone: M.Y. C. H. I. L. D. Now what does that spell? Hmmm.
   Recently, another issue has been Ellen Hopkins. Now, I don't get absurd accusations about that author, but what I do get is: is she old enough to read that book? Ellen Hopkins is a pretty well-known author, but in case you are not familiar with her, she is a poet, but not your average poet. She writes whole stories in poem, and these stories are about things like drug abuse, teen suicide, teen's discovering they are gay, teenage prostitution, and pretty much every hot, don't-talk-about it topic that is out there. So I can actually kind of understand why the question is asked: these stories are brutally honest. But this is were learning about the world in a safe environment comes into play. My daughter can read these stories, and get a better picture than I could describe, having never done hard drugs, about the consequences of becoming addicted. Nothing is sugar coated.
   The lasted Ellen Hopkins book she has read is Tricks, and having read it first, I was unsure of what her reaction would be to the book, because this book is about teenage prostitution. But long ago, we established guidelines for any book. If she ever needed to put a book down, because it was scaring her or upsetting her, or she just couldn't deal with it, she would do so. And she has: a long time ago, we tried The Secret Life of Bees, and the fact that the main character probably accidentally shot her mother, and the abuse that she suffered from her father upset my daughter too much, and she put it down and we talked about what upset her and that was that. This is how we deal with books that my daughter decides she can't handle, so while I appreciate the concern, we have a working system in place.
   Typically, I do read everything that my daughter reads (I am not reading Diary of the Wimpy Kid and that is final). Most books I read first, not because I do not trust her, but because I read so much that I am often the one suggesting the books to her. I am the one that put the first Ellen Hopkins book in her hands; that author is truly talented and I thought my daughter would enjoy the unusual format of the book. My daughter got The Golden Compass from her school library, but the only reason I did not put that book in her hands is because I was unsure of whether or not she would be able to follow it. I do like that book, but I thought it was a difficult read to follow. She read the series, and that was the last time I refrained from suggesting a book because I thought she might not be ready for it, for whatever reason. She has proven that she will stop reading a story if it disturbs her too much, and honestly, sometimes I wonder -- if we were both tested, I think there is a possibility that she might be on a higher reading level than I am, and I am no lightweight when it comes to reading. So my system is, if the books are not just plain porn (50 Shades!!!!) then she can make up her own mind. And as she is my kid, that is my choice to make. I don't get in other parent's faces and tell them what their kids can and can't read, and I expect the courtesy returned.

Hi, My Name Is Marie, And I've Been Addicted To Books For 31 Years

So many, yet, not enough. 

   Okay, if you have been reading my blog posts, you know that I have a serious addiction to the written word. I don't know if you could really compare that addiction to drugs, like my title implies, but this is an addiction. Not a harmful one, but an addiction nonetheless. I see a book that I haven't read, that I want to read, and I am affected physically. My heart starts pounding, I can hear the blood rushing in my ears, my skin gets warm, I tingle...... Okay, that sounds funky, but all the same, it happens. I NEED that book. More than I need food or sleep; my need to read surpassed even my need to game. In fact, my love of gaming started because the stories I found in video games could be every bit as involved and detailed as a story in a book. Final Fantasy VII and Xenogears (gears, NOT saga) pulled me in as deeply as any book ever did, and the main reason that I have those games still is for the stories, not the actual gameplay (although I like that too).
   So when I say that I am addicted to books, I mean I am addicted. I can't stop. Getting them from the library is not good enough. I mean, that will momentarily cure the itch, but I am not just a reader, I am a re-reader. Meaning that if I like something, I will read that something over and over and over again. And I am a fast reader. I finish most books within a day or two. I finished The Fellowship of The Ring in one day. (Incidentally, that is the first book I ever read my daughter. When she was older and cared what she was listening to, I read her Brown Bear, Brown Bear, but I avoided that stuff as long as possible. A newborn only cares that she/he can hear the sound of your voice and feel skin-on-skin contact. She/he doesn't care what silly old Frodo is up to.) So I can read a large quantity of books in a small amount of time. Which is really freaking expensive. My savings account is always in danger of being raided for book money. I know that I shouldn't.......but I have too. I NEED that books. My sweaty palms are burning.

Hazel and Fiver always make me feel better. 

   And books; they comfort me. Watership Down is my comfort book. Whenever I feel too upset to handle things, I go visit Hazel and Fiver. Those are two good old friends that have given the the respite needed in order to regroup and get a handle on problems. Feeling like there is no such thing as romance? Read Pride and Prejudice. Can't stomach the classics? Then read the manga Fruits Basket. You'll believe in love again. Sounds corny, but I rely on these stories. Sure, they are make-believe, but a person made them up, and that encourages my belief in people. We can think up such amazing things, and that makes me happy. So books are also my rock, in a way. No, they don't solve my problems, but they give my nerves a rest, which enables me to think more clearly and more rationally, which in turn enables me to tackle a problem with better clarity and stronger resolve.

My happy little space saver. 

   But really, I need to leave my savings account alone. So I write this blog post with a little bit of frustration at myself, because now I owe my savings a hundred bucks. And that was a cheap book shop, but that darn Amazon, that canny online store had a complete set of a manga series that I have been looking to pick up, and they had the originally priced $140 set for $82 (I took out $100 because I wasn't sure about tax. I suck at math.) That is over fifty dollars off! And if I had bought the books singly, they sell for $9.99, and there are eighteen in the series, so that's $180, so I saved myself a hundred bucks buying them like this. At least, that's what I tell myself. But if I hadn't bought them, I'd still have my hundred bucks in my savings, and not feeding Amazon's profit margin. *sigh* You can't win for losing, and I have lost to this addiction. In truth, I don't want to cure my book addiction at all. I know a ton of people who don't read at all, and I can't fathom not reading. What do you people do?!?! Don't say get out, because I get out too. I go to work and go to the movies and go to the mall and go hiking on Mount Rainier and go away on vacation and do family things with my daughter, but there are still a lot of minutes in life that are filled with not doing any of these things. What do you do in those minutes? Minutes that add up to hours that add up to days. What do you do? I don't understand.

These bookcases where an apartment-warming gift from my grandpa and his wife. Thanks!!!!

*** This is where I add a little note saying that I mean no disrespect to those fighting real addictions. You are all so strong and brave in facing your inner demons. I would never make fun of someone facing that; this was me making fun of myself, because I know that I am ridiculous about books.

Books!!!!!

   I suppose that labeling me as a 'hoarder' would not be entirely inaccurate, yet there are stipulations to what I will and will not hoard. I don't want to keep things like broken umbrellas or raggedy-ass furniture. I don't feel that they will have a use one day, or that as soon as I throw them away I'll need them. Who needs that crap?

A stack of books awaiting shelving on the new bookcases. 

   That being said, there are things that I will hoard in abundance. Gaming equipment, movies, electronics, and most of all, books. I have books coming out of my ears. I have them in stacks around my house because I ran out of room on my bookshelves, although my Grandpa and his lovely wife just gave me a new set of gorgeous bookcases that will hopefully solve that problem, and I have tons of electronic books on my Kindle. I believe I have around 100 e-books stored on there. But e-books are not good for some collections. I don't like to have manga on the Kindle at all, and some of my favorite authors, such as Juliet Marillier, Robert Jordan, Patricia Briggs, Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, Stephen King, Richard Adams, to name a few, I have to have in actual copy. So I hoard.
   And my daughter is the same way. She hoards the exact same things. And we are the type of people who will read a book over and over again. If the book is good, we will read the thing until the words are practically worn right off of the page. The difference between us is the type of books that we read. While I will read anything, I love fantasy and sci-fi, with some Japanese manga thrown in. My daughter, on the other hand, loves science books and books with random facts in them. I believe her favorite series is the Weird But True books, which she has garnered information like 'the biggest blood vessels in a blue whale are large enough for a human to swim through' (interesting but kinda freaky) and 'the human stomach holds 3 lbs of bacteria' (that little tidbit gave me the urge to go drink a bottle of bleach. YUCK!). These are the things that she loves to read about, and her room is just as book-filled as the rest of my little apartment.
   This is where the hoarding issues come out, because we both have a terribly hard time getting rid of books, even if they aren't that good. If we get rid of a certain book, a few months from now, we might just need to read that exact book. Do you ever get that craving for a certain food, and nothing you eat is going to satisfy you but that one thing? That is how we are with books. We get the need to read one certain book, and nothing else is going to get rid of that mental itch. Nothing is going to satisfy but that one story (or selection of facts, in the case of my daughter.)
   But I don't like the term hoarders. That implies one of those crazy trash heaps that you see on those stupid reality shows. Collectors. Yeah, we are collectors. No hoarders here.