I have always loved to read and made sure my son had a library before he was born. I felt like a hypocrite for months when I couldn't even get him to sit still for Goodnight Moon.
He's almost 16 months old now, and he loves books. We always read one or two going-go-bed type books in the evening. He now brings books to me at least twice during the day and wants me to read them to him.

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~Jeweled

We read books to the boys before naps and bedtime. Both of them love being read to right now (although that wasn't always the case with my older son). Last summer I started taking them to the library every couple weeks. My 15-month old doesn't pick out any books yet, but my 3-year old loves to. We pick out 6-8 new books to take home and read OVER and OVER and he gets to play with the dinosaurs while we look (for dinosaur books of course)!

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Stephanie
Mom to: Caleb (8/03), Ian (9/05), & Lucas (11/08)

I've tried to read to my now (19mo. old son) on a regular basis for quite a while. It is horribly hard to get him to sit still for a book. He wants to turn the pages before I can even read anything. I just keep trying. I let him turn the pages and we talk about the pictures and letters in the book instead. At least it is a good cuddle time.

We read to our children every night until they were probably 11 or 12. They are both excellent readers who read way above grade level, but one of my friends who is a teacher told me it's good to read to them even after they could read, because you help them learn pronunciation and voice inflection and can read words possibly above their reading level. We still read all the new harry potter books when they come out as a family even though they were 13 & 15 when the last one came out. We had started them when they were younger, so it's sort of our tradition. My dh often read the Redwall series of books together with my son even after he could read them alone because they enjoyed sharing them.

As far as books all your older children might enjoy....both of my kids...boy & girl...enjoyed Harry Potter series, Lord of the Rings series, Chronicles of Narnia series, Redwall series...hmmm have to think of some others. Frankly my son doesn't care for "tame" books, so prefers more fantasy type books like those I mentioned.

I know I've probably bored everyone to tears talking about reading so many times, but it's a really big deal in our family. We always read a lot, we went to the library a lot, and our children STILL love to read. Getting a book card is one of their favorite gifts. Okay... off my soapboxn my soapbox:

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My older two also read well above their grade level. We have a STAR reading test that they take every so often at school and Catie and Jacob both always test far above their grade level. However, this last time, Skylan tested a little below her grade level. I think the Chicken Soup books sound good...they're good lessons to be taught as well as entertaining. I think reading a biography about a sports hero or something of the sort might keep all of their attention as long as it's a good story... It's not that I never read to them...I just don't do it often enough. I read to Abby at least once a day most days because she'll bring me a book and ask me to read...if I can at all, I drop what I'm doing and read to her. However, she's still quite inattentive...she got a new book called D.W.'s New Glasses (it's an Arthur book) and was totally uninterested in the story. Instead she kept asking me on one page of the book that shows their bathroom, "Mommy, which one of those toothbrushes is hers (D.W.'s)?" ROFL!

Maybe this is a "resolution" of sorts for me...to start reading to my kids more.

Well tylers homework is a book Im suppose to read to him. Most the time he reads it to me. I always read them all a bedtime story because they enjoy it so much, It good time to spend togather as well. Nathan is 3 and its hard for him to sit still. But I just have to look for a book that HE will enjoy, Which is usally a car book

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I read to them every night and I will continue to do it untill she askes me not to. At some point I will have dd#1 starte to read to me.

My 5 year old is strugling to learn to read, so I have him pick out certain words when I see one in a story that I think he might be able to get. I try to read with him daily, but it doesn't always happen. so much going on with sports and just having 3 kids I just don't think about it. (I know, bad)

My 12 yr DS is good at reading but it's hard to find books he will read. I let him read whatever ( well, almost) he wants. Comics, scary stories, books below is reading level, newspapers...whatever. I actually thought I would start making it his job to read to his brothers before bed. Obviously way below reading level, but anything is better than nothing, and it would be a good bonding thing for them, since they have such a large age gap.