The most powerful reading your child can do is "free voluntary reading" -- the kind they want to do rather than what they are required to do. Fiction, nonfiction, comics, newspapers, magazines, stuff on the Web--all contribute.

Here are a few tips for helping a child/teen want to read more:

1. See that your child/teen has and uses a library card (school and public).

(Belfair Elem. Library does not require a library card. Timberland Regional Library makes obtaining a library card easy).

2. Demand unlimited checkout privileges at the school library. Your child should be able to check out all that can be handled responsibly.

3. See that there is a bed lamp and a safe place to store borrowed books at home. Even a cardboard box by the bedside will do. Encourage the "read-yourself-to-sleep" habit to form. It is a gift for life.

4. Read to your pre-school child every day. This can continue as long as it is a pleasurable experience--even into the teenage years. The child/teen can read to you as their skill develops.

5. Talk about what everyone in the family is reading. Movie/book tie-ins are one ideas (example Holes the book vs. Holes the movie).

6. If you have a reluctant reader, keeping looking until you find material they are interested in reading (dinosaurs, skateboards, cars, space, fantasy...).

7. Do everything you can to make reading a pleasant experience. Kids may be getting skilled-to-death at school, so they learn to hate reading. (Hopefully not at Belfair Elementary!).

8. Buy books so that every family member has a personal library. They can often be had for a dime to a buck at sales. Books as gifts are always appropriate.

9. Above all, make reading and reading time a pleasant experience.

10. Remember the school librarian and the public librarian are your best friends in helping your child to become a capable and avid reader.

Krashen, Stephen. The Power of Reading. Libraries Unlimited, 2004: McQuillan, Jeff. The Literacy Crisis. Heinemann, 1998. Also: Cunningham, Anne E. and Keith E. Stanovich. "What Reading Does for the Mind," American Educator, Spring/Summer, 1998, p. 1-8.

Washington Power! 2005 Hi Willow Research & Publishing, p. 18.