Is it even possible to teach a child to enjoy books and reading in our days of TV, computers, Internet and video games? I think it is, and I know many families that have successfully done it. Obviously, the best way to go is to start early, when your children are young, and then keep doing it, making reading together one of your family traditions. You start by reading to your children, then gradually switch to reading with them as they learn their letters. If you choose good, interesting books, your children will keep asking you to read more, and as soon as they realize that they can now do it themselves – boom! You’ve got yourself a little booklover.

But what if you didn’t start early, and now your kids prefer watching TV or playing computer games? Can you still turn them around? Well, you will need to be more creative – and committed. More persistent, perhaps, since you now have to compete with the powerful entertainment industry. But the hope is not lost. Children need and want a closer relationship with their parents. The TV set will never replace you. Family reading can be one of the most exciting and heart-warming experiences you and your children will have together, and in this article I will show you several different ways you can use to make it happen.

1. Book Discussion

The idea isn’t new, and if you already have family readings I am sure you and your children discuss books you read. I would still recommend you to skim through this section though – you might find a new idea or two that you like.

My first advice to you will be this: do not make your book discussions formal, boring, and mandatory to join. If your reading time begins to look and feel like school, watch out: the children will quickly lose interest. Most book-haters I’ve met owe their sad condition to boring literature classes they had at school. So, if you see that your children do not feel like discussing the book and would rather have you continue reading, do so. Don’t push them into it.

Don’t push them into it, but you can try to trick them into it. Pause your reading in the middle of some interesting episode and pop in a question: what do you think is going to happen now? What is this character going to do? Children love guessing, so they will be happy to offer you their ideas. Ask them questions that will stir their curiosity and encourage them to do a little more than simply follow the plot – to think and analyze. If your child suggests that the character is going to fight the enemy but you know that this particular character is a coward, help the child to see it as well. Ask him or her, “Do you think he is brave enough to do that? Has he been brave before? What did he do the last time he was in danger?”

Another good time to have such discussions is when you are done reading for today and your kids beg for more (you’ll want to make sure that you stop at some plot-twisting point, leaving them anxious to know what happens next). You can say, “No, it’s getting late and we are not going to read any more tonight, but we can talk a little about this story if you want.”

Most children enjoy drawing, especially younger ones, so it’s a good idea to have them draw a picture of their favorite character from the book you are reading. When the picture is done, suggest that they add a short summary about this character. It does not have to be in-depth, but encourage your children to describe the character’s personality rather than simply state who he is. “This is John, he lives on a farm and has a dog” is a good start; but adding something like, “John is kind and honest, but he is very shy” helps the child to look a little deeper.

Older kids might enjoy leaving online book reviews at Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble websites. It gives them the sense of fulfillment, especially if they do it regularly and become established reviewers (Amazon has a special rating system that allows people to vote for reviews they like). Ask your older children whether they would like to share their opinion about the book with hundreds of other readers. Tell them that since so many people will be able to read their review when it’s posted online, it needs to be done well. Amazon discourages its members from writing meaningless, one-phrase reviews like, “This is a great book, read it!” Instead, they want you to share why you liked the book and what you learned from it. Let your children read other people’s reviews first, and offer your help in writing their own. This might turn into another book discussion.

2. Role-Playing Reading

This activity takes a little time and explaining to catch on, but when you do, both you and your kids will greatly enjoy it. You will need a book with lots of dialogue and the number of characters that matches (or is close to) the number of participants. The more participants you have, the better – everyone will be involved, and even those who do not get a part to read will be busy watching the others and listening.

What you do is you assign each person to be a certain character from the book. They will read the words of that particular character whenever he/she speaks up. You will also assign someone to be the Author; this person will read all the narrative, descriptions and remarks inside of dialogues. I recommend that you choose the most advanced reader for this part since he usually starts the story and does most of the watching of who reads next. It is probably best if you will be the Author yourself when you first start.

Here is how you do it. Imagine that you are going to read the following passage:

It was dark and scary in the barn.

“I’m not going there,” Tim said.

Jenny laughed and teased, “Chicken!”

You will assign one person to be the Author, another one to be Tim, and another one to be Jenny. The Author starts, reading, “It was dark and scary in the barn.” Then he stops and waits for the person playing Tim to read his part. It may take some time for “Tim” to figure that it is now his turn to read, and he might need to be prompted (which is okay; it will be happening less and less as your children catch on and get the taste of this activity). Now, the person playing Tim reads, “I’m not going in there.” Here he needs to stop. If he is new to this, he will probably attempt to go on and read the words “Tim said” as well – but those are the Author’s words, so “Tim” needs to stop. The Author reads, “Tim said. Jenny laughed and teased”… Then the Author stops, allowing the person who plays Jenny to step in and read her part, “Chicken!”

It will start slow, and there will be some mistakes and long pauses at first. Be patient. Start with a well-familiar story that your children have already read. You may also want to let them read it again after the roles are assigned, so that they can prepare and pick their lines. Give the shortest and easiest parts to your youngest kids, they will be delighted to be involved. If your youngest ones cannot read yet, they can just sit there and listen.

You will be surprised how quickly the children understand what role-playing reading is about and grow to enjoy it. You can pretend that you are doing a radio show, or recording an audio book – or you can actually make one! This would be a very exciting project. Assign the roles, spend some time practicing, and then record your reading on a tape, CD, or “.wav” file on your computer. Imagine how happy your children will be to have done their own audio book, with their names on the cover – and drawing a nice cover can be another engaging task.

3. Family Newspaper or Magazine

Have you ever thought of making your own family newspaper or magazine? Yes, it is time-consuming, and you probably have no idea of what to start with, but consider all the rewards! You will build precious memories, help your children to develop their creativity, and the newspapers (which I suggest to keep through the years) will always bring tons of fun later, when your kids are grown.

You will be the Editor in Chief. At the beginning, you will probably have to do most of the work yourself – thinking of stories to include, writing articles, making sure the newspaper is out in time. Don’t worry, it is not so much work as it may sound. Your articles will be short, one or two paragraphs, and it shouldn’t take long to come up with a subject. You can write about anything: your kids’ school activities and achievements, spending a weekend at Grandma’s, getting a new puppy, your little daughter helping you to cook dinner, or your son getting his first bike. Children enjoy attention; if the newspaper is about them, they’ll read it!

In our age of personal computers, it is pretty easy to make an almost professional-looking paper, nicely printed, with headlines and columns. You can do it that way if you like, but you don’t have to. In fact, a hand-written, “home-made” paper will look much more special. You can begin to involve your children as illustrators, then promote them to journalists if they are willing to try their hand at writing for the newspaper.

When the paper is done, read it together as a family. Have all the laughs you can, and then you might want to put it up on the wall somewhere in the living room so that your visitors can see it – until the next issue is out.

In Conclusion

These are just a few creative ideas that can help your children to find their way into the world of books and literature. It will require some time and effort on your part, but you know it’s worth it, especially if you are a booklover yourself and you hate to see your children missing out on something so wonderful as getting lost in a good book.