May 7th to May 13th is Children’s Book Week, the national celebration of reading for youth. Better World Books sent me the info in an email and I couldn’t pass up the chance to blog about something I’ve loved my whole life – BOOKS!
I’m guessing that from the minute a book was first put into my hands, I fell in love with reading. My Mom was an early elementary school teacher and we had piles of books in every room of the house. I read constantly, everything I could get my hands on. I think it also helped that both of my parents were readers, we had the newspaper every day and they both read it, and starting in about the second grade, so did I!
It’s probably no surprise then that there are books in every room of my house as an adult, too. Chris and I both read every day, usually right before bed. We read to all three of our kids as soon as they could sit up, made sure books were on low shelves or in baskets within easy reach, started them with wordless books, then picture books, then early readers. All three have strong reading skills and test higher than grade level 
These are some of my favorite children’s book authors:
Dr. Seuss (who also published as Theo Lesig)
Maurice Sendak (who passed away today at age 84, he was a great talent)
Beatrix Potter
Jan and Stan Berenstain
Mercer Mayer
Raymond Briggs (you must read “The Snowman” if you haven’t already)
William Steig
Robert McCloskey
Bill Martin Jr. (he writes the books that Eric Carle illustrates, and also Chicka Chicka Boom Boom)
Steven Kellogg
Karla Kuskin
H.A. Rey (the Curious George books!)
Marc Brown
Margaret Wise Brown
And so many more! Children’s Book Week, administered by Every Child A Reader and sponsored by the Children’s Book Council, honors the life-changing potential of a book, especially during a young person’s formative years.
Here are a few ways to celebrate for Children’s Book Week (and all year long!):
- Buy a book from BetterWorldBooks.com. With every book purchased, they donate a book to someone who needs it. The vast majority of donations goes to Books for Africa and Feed the Children.
- Pick out one of your (or one of your parents’) favorite books from childhood and introduce it to your kid at bedtime.
- Spend some time at your local library. Even a few minutes here and there in our busy schedule will help instill a lifelong love of books.
- Pen your own children’s book to read to your kids. Have them also write their own to read to you, too!
- Pick out 5 books, either from your own collection or from a book store, to donate to literacy campaigns throughout the world (Better World Books is a great example of one such outlet.)
And, Better World Books is reducing the price on a huge selection of used children’s books. Shop their Children’s Book Week sale selection at BetterWorldBooks.com and get 3 used books for $9, and any additional used books for $3 each!
I’d love to have you share in a comment what your favorite children’s books are, either ones you read as a child or ones your children read now! Happy Children’s Book Week!
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