Which book to choose

Many of us, these days, are consciously trying to inculcate reading habits in our children. We try to read books in front of children to encourage them to copy the habit. We read books with them to make sure that they do read. We take memberships of various libraries and make visits regularly to take new books for our children. 

In all these efforts that we make, we often find ourselves in a deep confusion. Some common questions which pop-up when we are standing in the sea of books in a bookstore are “Which book should I take for my child?” or “It says 4-5 years, but will my 5 year old one be able to read it?” or “How do I know which books are trending these days? Are the trending books good enough?” or “Do I take a book which he can read by himself or which I need to read and explain to him?”

There are many ways in which you choose. You may choose according to the age level. You just see the age mentioned on the cover and take it. Or you may want to choose according to what everyone is reading these days. So it’s a Geronimo Stilton for your 8 year old one, case closed. Or you may want your child to read books on science. So you pick up the first science book on the shelf you can find. You find it tough for him, but you decide to read it to him.

But in all these ways, we are not taking into consideration the most important factor- i.e. the reading level of the child. the child may be in grade 2, but he may be well able to self-read and comprehend a grade 3 book. Or, he may be in grade 1 and can do self-reading of kindergarten books and assisted-reading of grade 1 books. 

An imposed book, a too difficult book, a too easy book will never be able to generate and sustain the much required reading passion which is fading in the gen-Y. Our children may shy away from reading (and which may look like laziness or defiance to us) if they don’t get the right book.

So, when we are going to pick up a book for the child, we should take care of these factors:

1.     The self-reading level

2.     Reading comprehension level

3.     The assisted-reading level

4.     Listening comprehension level

5.     Interest areas

A book chosen with these criteria in mind is the best pick. If your child can self-read and self-comprehend a book easily, his/her interest is definitely going to go up.

We should take this as a responsibility on us to be able to suggest the right book to our children. We can enjoy bookworms around us then.