Monday, October 5, 2009

Win a great resource for parents: Reading Together, by Diane Frankenstein


Read a book –


Ask a question –

Start a conversation –

Raise a child who loves to read. 

How do children become lifelong readers? How can we, as the adults in children's lives, help them become engaged with the world of books? Those are the questions that Educational consultant Diane Frankenstein asks. Are you looking for ideas of great books to read with your children? You have to see Diane Frankenstein's new book for parents: Reading Together: Everything You Need to Know to Raise a Child Who Loves to Read. This is a wonderful resource to help parents do just this: raise a child who loves to read. Would you like to win a free copy? See below for the contest rules.
Reading Together:
Everything You Need to Know to Raise a Child Who Loves to Read

by Diane W. Frankenstein
NY: Perigree Trade, 2009.
for parents of children ages 4 - 14
Reading Together suggests over 100 different books that work with children - that are fun to read, interesting, engaging.  But Frankenstein goes further.  She provides questions, ideas, things to think about, to help parents engage their children with reading.  This book helps take what we know as parents, find books that will work with our children, and then helps us talk with our children about these stories.

The heart of the book is Story Pages: 101 books to explore with your child.  For each book, Diane gives a brief summary, lists the ideas and subjects the book explores, and then shares questions to get a conversation started and help you look closer at the story, bringing it from the plot to the personal.  It's a wonderful format, easy to browse but also easy to dig into.  It will stay on my shelves for years to come.

Would you like to win a free copy of this wonderful resource?  Diane Frankenstein has graciously donated a signed copy of Reading Together to readers of Great Kid Books.  All you need to do to enter is:

1) enter a comment on the blog OR send me an email to greatkidbooks(at)gmail(dot)com
** Make sure you leave your email address so I can contact you **

2) let me know a book you've enjoyed reading with your children

2 extra entries: tell friends about Reading Together!  either email friends, post on Facebook or Twitter and link to Great Kid Books!

2 extra entries: become a follower or tell me you're already a follower!

Deadline: This contest will run until Sunday, October 18th.

16 comments:

  1. pk7sha(at)comcast.net emailed me to enter this contest. Yay! the first entry!

    They love reading Library Mouse, by Daniel Kirk. It looks like a sweet and funny book!

    I just put a copy on hold at my library! thanks for entering!

    ReplyDelete
  2. themuffinmom@gmail.com

    My children loved the Little House on the Prairie series; they are always asking me to read it to them again, even though their reading levels are advanced enough to do so alone.

    Frankenstein's book sounds a lot like Jim Trelease's Read Aloud Handbook--a favorite of mine that helped me raise a family of book lovers! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds like a fantastic resource Mary Ann!

    My son loves reading Piggie Throws a Ball and my daughter enjoys Knuffle Bunny right now, both by Mo Willems -- we love Mo in our house!

    Thanks Mary Ann for your insightful reviews!

    P.S. The Library Mouse is a great book and there is a sequel, too -- Library Mouse, A Friend's Tale -- Enjoy!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. justallee@yahoo.com sent a kind email entering this contest:

    "Just found this site while searching for books my kindergartner can read independently and for us to read together. Great find. Would love to introduce her to your works with a copy of your free book. Much continued success and thanks."

    ReplyDelete
  5. Muffin Mom (love that name!) - yes, you're right. Reading Together is much like Jim Trelease's book. But I find it even easier to use as a parent, because of the wonderful format of the Story Pages.

    I just heard Diane talk at our local bookstore in Oakland (Laurel Books - great selection of kids books!). Diane was emphasizing that reading for pleasure is the key to success. So keep reading Little House on the Prarie stories to them - they'll remember it and love them forever. And encourage them to try others like them that they might like. Have they tried the Saturdays series? Or the All-of-a-Kind Family series? Both are lovely family stories that my daughter loved.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Reading with my kids is one of my favorite times during the day. The crazy world stops and we settle into the authors story. We all really enjoy it and it's a great way to whined down from our day. We just finished a fun book called Runt Farm: Under New Management by Amanda Lorenzo. It's an adventure story about a group of farm animals that take over the management of an abandoned farm. There are lots of opportunity for discussion and the illustrations are fantastic. We're really enjoying this book.

    ReplyDelete
  7. One of our favorite books to read together has been The Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo. The word choice that DiCamillo uses is in a class of its own. Not only do we love to read books at home, listening to books on CD has been a lifesaver as we live in the "woods" are are often in the car. Thank you for sharing this title.
    Lara Ivey
    ltivey@embarqmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a great resource!
    We always love the Froggy books!
    I follow you on blog.
    kduff@oelwewin.k12.ia.us
    spottoread.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey! Sounds like an excellent book. My reading specialist and I are looking for a text for our parent book club.
    My husband and I just finished Indian and the Cupboard. We really enjoyed it and are going to begin the next one in the series this week.
    My email is amylovesbooks@mac.com
    My blog is http://timetorenew.blogspot.com/
    I already followed you on Twitter, so now I will follow your blog too!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I just received a nice note from Amelia -

    "I'm writing to enter for the Reading Together giveaway. Love your blog!...I follow via RSS.

    My 9-year old and I love to read Beverly Cleary books together; they are timeless...he relates to the everyday events and to the characters. He also LOVES Clementine by Sara Pennypacker and can't wait for her to write another one!"

    Thank you,
    Amalia
    apmconnolly(at)gmail

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'd LOVE this book! My daughter is well on her way to love reading, and I want to keep that trend going...

    We've posted about this giveaway at Winning Readings:

    http://winningreadings.blogspot.com/2009/10/reading-together.html

    And I'm a new follower!

    janemaritz at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a great giveaway! I may have to buy this book if I don't win it!

    ~ Jennifer
    http://thetoyboxyears.blogspot.com

    (Email is in profile)

    ReplyDelete
  13. We have so many books that we enjoy reading together, but one of our favorites is Harold & The Purple Crayon.

    ~ Jennifer
    http://thetoyboxyears.blogspot.com

    (Email is in profile)

    ReplyDelete
  14. I am now a follower!

    ~ Jennifer
    http://thetoyboxyears.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  15. I posted about this on Twitter!

    ~ Jennifer
    http://thetoyboxyears.blogspot.com

    (Email in profile)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Amy, a new media specialist / librarian, was chosen by Random.org to be the winner of Reading Together.

    It's a wonderful book - I hope others seek it out.

    Many thanks to all who sent comments.

    Mary Ann

    ReplyDelete