By Pam Woodbury

Reading is undoubtedly the most important academic skill.  History, science, geography, and even math, cannot be fully learned without the ability to read.  Sure, as a parent you can teach your children many useful pieces of information, they can learn to add and subtract before they learn to read, and you can read all about many different eras of history to them, but they will never be able to advance very far on their own without the ability to read.  Besides that, the treasure of a good book is beyond compare.  As you are aware, only through books will a child be able to experience far off or long past cultures, mice that run abbeys, boys that can seemingly conquer any problem that comes their way, trials and hardships of fellowships broken apart by evil, and the joy encountered when good prevails in the end.  But not only does the skill to read need to be developed, the love of reading and of good books also needs to be nurtured. 

When children are young, they need to have good books read to them often.  As they grow, they need to have a selection of good books at various reading levels readily available, and they still need to have good books read to them often.  Resources such as The Jim Trelease Read-Aloud Handbook, and Books Children Love by Elizabeth Wilson, are great places to start looking for ideas on which books to select for your children, but don't forget your friends and their children.  Many times you will discover great books through their recommendations.  We know a family at church with four grown girls that spent many hours reading together as a family.  One day, upon chatting with one of the daughters, I was given a list of three or four books that were some of their favorites.  Dutifully, I took the list home and placed it somewhere where it wouldn't get lost.  Later, upon rediscovering this list, I found some of these books, including Little Britches, by Ralph Moody, at the library and they soon became favorites at our house too.  Finally, if you select a book that neither you nor your child likes, no mater how highly it may have been recommended, give it one more chance and if you still don't like it, put it away for a time and try another one.  There are so many great books out there; it shouldn't take long to find one that is a winner.