This is an excellent resource for parents, teachers, and librarians - I believe that anyone interested in young children's literature would find it to be a good resource. The book is highly informative, yet also very easy to read. Since the book is formatted by each stage of a child's development from birth to school age, it has a long-term shelf life for each family (it's an ongoing literacy guide for parents to continuously use). As a children's librarian, this book is an invaluable tool in planning my weekly story times as well as in providing readers' advisories to patrons. Very highly recommend!

I wanted to this book to be so much more than just quick anecdotes and suggestions. The true experts on the love of reading and getting kids to read are Jim Trelease and Donalyn Miller.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC.

To me, How To Raise a Reader is common sense. After all, I'm a reader, I'm surrounded by readers, I have kids, and I'm a librarian. However, I know that doesn't apply to most people, and for them, this book would be beneficial.

Paul and Russo cover the ages when it comes to reading. I, too, believe the importance of reading words to the tiniest of infants. My go-to baby shower gifts are a selection of my favorite board books. I can see including this book with my future gift baskets.

What made me give this three stars is the specific audience to which the book is directed. This is for middle class, educated parents/guardians. My school demographic is low income and high English Language Learning. I would love a book to be written for the parents who aren't home at night because they each work multiple jobs to pay the rent. I'd love advice on the importance of reading for the parents who never became readers themselves. I'd love a bigger focus on library visits as most of our families cannot afford to buy luxuries like books. I don't feel How to Raise a Reader applies to this population.

I do appreciate the suggestions listed in the book. Of course, these will be come dated fairly quickly. Maybe a link to a website where continuous suggestions posted would be helpful.

How to Raise a Reader is an easy-to-read guide for parents, grandparents, teachers, and librarians. With recommendations and heads-up mentions, it has many bookmark-worthy notes. The author gives common sense methods for addressing the needs of both enthusiastic and reluctant readers. I especially liked the bit on allowing kids to take a break from breading. (Don’t panic!)
I recommend How to Raise a Reader as a good resource to refer to as your readers grow up.

This is definitely more of a guide, than a cover-to-cover read, but I think it's immensely helpful for parents. I am now a parent of two middle-grade readers, and I think I have done a pretty good job of raising them to be readers, and I agree with all the tips and suggestions that the authors give. I wish I had this book when they were younger. Most of the suggestions of books are great too, although one could never make a truly comprehensive list of titles here. I like that they include YA titles as well. This would be a great gift for new parents.

What an amazing resource! Authors Paul and Russo have made a very comprehensive guidebook for parents to help raise children to love books. It’s obvious they have lived the lessons as, even in the Introduction, their absolute love of reading shines through. The chapters take you step-by-step from infancy to the teenage years, with suggestions of what to read and what to watch out for. They encourage reading “outside the box”, so to speak, of letting them read what they want without being overly concerned about “where they should be”. (I get very frustrated seeing a child run to a parent with a book they are excited about, only to hear “is it in your range?” – let them read the book! If it’s too “easy”, they still will enjoy it; if it’s too “hard”, they may set it aside for later or they still can glean some knowledge/enjoyment out of it. /rant over) Their overriding philosophy for parents is this: “School is where children learn they HAVE to read. Home is where kids learn to read because they WANT to. It’s where they learn to LOVE to read.” That being said, this is also an excellent resource for librarians and teachers. There are many, many book lists and they do not shy away from including any contemporary issues. I know my TBR list just grew a lot longer… Highly recommend! I received a digital ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This is a great book for parents of children of all ages. Relatable, easy tips and great suggestions of books on how to truly raise a reader.

Great literacy resource for parents and educators, addressing the various reading stages in a child’s life from birth to adulthood. It provides the book lists and various ideas to get children into reading,

A wonderful literacy resource for parents, addressing the various reading stages in a child’s life from birth to adulthood with book lists that are balanced with new and old favorites. It’s also a useful book for librarians as it offers a perspective regarding growing readers from birth to adulthood and offers considerations on topics books address that parents may be fearful about.

I’m definitely purchasing this book!

I received this book as an ARC from Workman Publishing Company in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book was so insightful and full of wonderful ideas to kick-start any child into their future love of reading. I also found some of the techniques manageable for students that do not read a lot that will also make them fall in love with reading. The book also included recommendations of titles for each subject featured in the book and there were some titles that were new to me that I was able to add to my list for not only to add to our library collection , but to read for myself and that to me is very important. If I can identify some new books, imagine what parents that read this book can do.

We will consider adding this book to our Non-Fiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

Pros: I went through this entire book, but only one part pertained to me: my middle schoolers are a little beyond the recommended content. However, I do agree with the author when it comes to showing babies picture books and reading aloud in a regular voice. I've been exposing my kids to my college materials for years, and this has helped them all advance in their schooling. This book is for those looking for references on books that are suitable for their children, especially those that are in homeschools.

Cons: This is more of a reference book than a read-through book, so keep this in mind.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC in return for this unbiased review. I am a lifelong reader (obsessed with reading, perhaps?) and got my son a library card when he was still an infant so I could keep track of his books separately from mine. I've always understood the value of stories for babies and children, but as I enter a new phase where he is starting to read independently I was looking for guidance for how to help him in that transition without frustration, and while still encouraging him to read and love reading as a family. The tips and ideas (and especially the book recommendations) in this book are super helpful, and with just enough detail to give me solid information without being lengthy.

This is a wonderful book to hand to any new parent to help them guide their babies through the world of books. It's got everything you need to build a love of reading from the start- and also suggests which books are best avoided (along with the recs of what to choose). Highly recommended!

We are a read aloud family so a lot of this information I already knew but this would be great for a family just starting out or a family that wants to get into reading more. Great book with easy to digest information!

First, I would like to thank NetGalley and Workman Publishing Company for providing me with a free PDF copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Pamela Paul and Maria Russo have crafted an excellent handbook on how to engage child readers at all stages of development. The advice given is derived from the fields of psychology (specifically, child and adolescent development) and literacy. The book skillfully guides parents in incorporating reading into a child’s life in an appropriate manner for his or her life stage and cautions against common mistakes that may detract from reading. Examples of books that are appropriate for each stage of development are listed within each section, and there is also an appendix of books divided into categories with examples for each life stage including everything from “tearjerkers” to “history and biography.” This is an indispensable book to keep on the shelf and reference for years to come! I plan to purchase this book once it is published!

#netgalley #howtoraiseareader

A beautifully written book that has the ability to erase any stress a parent would have about cultivating the wonderful habit of reading, no matter the child's age. I was blown away by the amount of information that was presented, and didn't feel the overwhelmed while taking everything in. They even provided wonderful book lists for each stage (baby, toddler, etc) and wonderful activities. I highly recommend this book to all parents!

Do you remember that first book that you couldn’t put down? The one that grabbed your attention and got you to love reading? Incorporating parenting advice, this book offers reading advice for parents/teachers to use with all ages infant through teen. Included are curated suggested reading lists by topic that contain classics as well as more recent publications. Books recommended provide a wide range of interests. The author does a great job of debunking myths, assuaging parental fears, and invaluable lessons. Not every point is perfect for every reader, but is sound advice. Recommended for most library collections and parent looking to turn their kids into readers.

I love so much about this book! From the layout and great tips to keep parents involved with engaging all readers from your babes to your teens. They don’t just tell you what to look for in a book but also what to be wary of. Another great thing was the lists of books given on so many topics. They definitely have classics that you’ll remember reading as well as newer books from Mo Willems to The Hate U Give. Excellent resource.

This book is EXACTLY what every parent, librarian and school librarian needs to read. I love the current titles the authors recommend as well as the realistic suggestions for pushing the "screen generation" back to books. My favorite comes in the middle grades section: "be the pipeline and not the gatekeeper." I think many parents and educators are literacy heavy in the elementary years and think their job is done. As a school librarian, I see my role in the middle grades as critical. Students at this age don't usually have a parent reading to them at night so it's easy to let them slip out of their reading habits. The idea that we are able to plant seeds in kids about good reading material is crucial. While kids will often shun life advice from adults, I think they really rely on us to make sound suggestions and our enthusiasm is contagious. This book reminds us to respect children's reading choices and not be critical of what they choose. The author's bring up a great point too- "jobs" attached to reading are a chore. It's a reminder to us educators that reading for pleasure should be just that- for our own joy. A great addition to all parenting collections and professional collections for literacy/library folks.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review! I loved this book. It was a simple, easy read with lots of great suggestions for reading. I spent a little more time reading the sections for toddler and immediately following, but the whole book was relevant! I'd highly recommend!

This was a helpful, insightful book with lots of advice about encouraging reading in babies and children.

It was fine, but some of the advice was quite logical, and the book didn’t, for me, add anything to what I already knew, or provided a new angle or hook on the issue.

That could just be because of being a children’s bookseller already though!

It’s well written, reasoned and won’t disappoint, just not one for me.