Do you recall that magical moment when reading “clicked” for you? How about for your kids? If you’re like many of us at IEW, that moment likely came about because of an encounter with a favorite book or book series. We decided to pop into a few offices and ask some of our staff which book or book series sparked reading for their children. We would like to share some of their recollections with you. Who knows? Perhaps one of the books mentioned will be the spark to ignite your own child’s excitement for reading as well!
“For us it was The Boxcar Children. My son was so fascinated by their adventures that his reading took off to the point that we ended up scouring every library in town for these books. Of course, he also ended up with his own extensive collection! This series propelled him into becoming an avid reader, and it is still his passion today at almost thirty.” – Sabrina Cardinale
“A Series of Unfortunate Events was the key for my daughter with auditory processing issues. The consistent characters, plot, and frequent discussion of what was going on was her key, and the humor involved in the books made them fun to listen to. Tim Curry brought the books to life!” – Jill Pike
“I will put a plug in for the boys’ books! My oldest son absolutely hated to read. He always had to be busy, and books required him to sit still. Until we found books by Gary Paulsen, like the Hatchet series, that boy would not sit and read for more than ten minutes!” – Erin Fisher
“For my son it was the DK Eyewitness Books and Usborne books. He could not get enough of these types of books. I believe what appealed to him were the colorful graphics plus the fact that the text was in shorter, more manageable chunks. Plus, we did a ton of read-aloud books of all types. For my daughter it was the Nancy Drew mystery books. She still loves those types of stories!” – Angela Fuller
“For my son, it would be the Usborne Beginners series with non-fiction topics. He loved it when I read aloud stories, but his reading was sparked by books about real stuff. He also loved Geronimo Stilton because it was colorful and had different fonts. My other son loved Hank the Cowdog. For my girls, one of them liked Angelina Ballerina, the classic picture book series; one loved the series from A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron; and another liked Pony Scouts and Circle C Beginnings book series.” – Danielle Olander
“For my son, it was the Geronimo Stilton books, Encyclopedia Brown, and really, anything that was funny. Eventually he became engrossed in the Redwall series.” – Kim Murphy
“For our oldest two, we had to make the promise that we would continue to read aloud to them even if they learned to read. Their first chapter books were the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. They first tackled long chapter books after we read Redwall aloud. As Brian Jacques wrote it for the Royal School for the Blind, it is a delightful read-aloud book. My youngest loved Geronimo Stilton.” – Marci Harris
“My daughter who struggles with dyslexia recently told me the book that opened the world of reading to her is Watership Down. She was captivated by the story of a warren of rabbits and their struggle for survival. Soon after listening to that book, she discovered the world of Brian Jacques’ Redwall and fell in love with the full cast audiobooks of the series. They are quite gripping stories!” – Jennifer Mauser
So did you find any gems to share with your students? We sure hope so! How about you, though? Do you have any books or book series that sparked reading for your student? Please share them in the comments! We would love to hear about them!
