The Little Engine That Could™
Family Reading Guide

Books provide opportunities for growing young minds! The "I Think I Can Read"™ Program is designed to help families encourage young children to become confident and avid readers. A child who likes to read at a young age will become a book lover for life!

Research has shown that many children find reading discouraging because of difficult vocabulary and a lack of reading material that attracts their interest and feel overwhelmed by all the titles in a bookstore or library. Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers would like to help the young readers in your family believe that if they "think they can" read well, they will increase their reading skills, build their reading confidence, and increase their reading frequency. Together, we can open up new worlds to children through reading!

Reading to
Young Children

How to Encourage Children to Read on Their Own

Helpful Reading Hints to Pass on to Your Young Readers

How to Help Your Child Become a Stronger Reader

Reading to Young Children

Here are a few suggestions to try when reading to young children who cannot read on their own:

• After reading the text on each page, take time to look at the artwork with your child. Have your child interpret what he or she sees visually and talk about how the pictures correspond to the text before moving on to the next page.

• If your child requests, "Read it again!" after you have just read a book, here's a perfect chance to test your child's memory. Read a page or two and then ask your son or daughter, "What happens next?" to determine how much information he or she retained from the first reading.

• Let your child tell the story to you in his or her own way through interpreting the pictures alone.

• Try to alternate reading sentences with your child, helping him or her pronounce difficult words, or have your child repeat each phrase back to you as you read.

• Talk about the story when the two of you have finished the book. Ask what the favorite parts were, if he or she liked the artwork, and how your daughter or son would end the story. Make up a story together involving the characters in the book.

How to Encourage Children to Read on Their Own

It can be very difficult getting a child to enjoy reading. Many children don't like to read because they feel they are just not good at it. But like many activities, reading takes practice. Here are a few tips to help increase your child's reading frequency and confidence:

• Remember that your child does not have to read at a very high level right away. Let your son or daughter choose the reading level he or she feels most comfortable with in the beginning. You will find that your child will want to explore more difficult books once reading becomes a habit.

• Have your child read many forms of literature. Set up a magazine subscription for your daughter or son. Have your child practice reading aloud by reciting a cookbook recipe or one article from a newspaper while you cook dinner.

• Incorporate your child's reading into family travel plans. If you are planning a trip, have your child read brochures or books about your destination. Teach your child how to read a map and to help navigate on car trips by reading road signs aloud.

• Set aside some time for family reading. Have everyone read in the same room whether it's every night or once a week. Make sure the television is turned off and the volume on the radio is low.

• Browse through books with your child at a bookstore or library as well as letting him or her spend some time looking at books alone.

• Remember that children follow the example that adults set. If the adults in your household have good reading habits, then with a little encouragement, so will the children.

Helpful Reading Hints to Pass on to Your Young Readers

Your young reader may need a few words of wisdom when it comes to their reading habits. Below are a few creative and encouraging messages you can pass along to ensure that "Reading is fun with a few good books!"

• Enjoy the outdoors! Take a book with you to the beach, the park, or the backyard. Sometimes reading can be more fun with your toes wiggling in the sand, or sitting on the grass or in a tree!

• Find a quiet place to read (a room without a television, radio, or people around who can distract you). It also helps to have a comfortable chair!

• Don't be discouraged by hard words: try to sound them out, or ask an adult. If you do not know what a word means, here's the perfect time to build up your dictionary skills. Keep a pocket dictionary with you when you read. See how many new words you can learn!

• Set the mood for the type of book you are reading. If you are reading a scary book or a book about outer space, why not read in the dark with a flashlight!

• Find a time of day that you read best and try to read at that time every day.

• Share a story with someone else. Why not read a book to a younger brother or sister, a grown-up, a pet, or even a favorite stuffed animal.

• Have a reading buddy! Sometimes reading can be more fun when you are in a room with someone else who is also reading. You may also want to set up a reading exchange with a friend. The two of you can swap books after you finish reading and can discuss the stories you both have read.

• Carry a book with you when you travel. Reading can be fun on the subway, train, bus, or plane. If you should start feeling dizzy while reading in a moving car, just stop and enjoy the scenery instead.

• While running errands with a grown-up, read a few pages while waiting on line at the supermarket, at a movie theater before show time, or while waiting for dinner to be ready.

• If you like a particular book, write down the author's name. The next time you go to the bookstore or library you can ask someone for other books by the author.

How to Help Your Child Become a Stronger Reader

Below are several reading activities that can be adapted for readers, of any age, to build reading skills.

Create a Reading Vocabulary Log

One way to build reading skills is through increasing a child's vocabulary. Have your young reader keep a small notepad with his or her books. Spend some time teaching your child how to find definitions in a children's dictionary. He or she can write down the difficult words found while reading, along with a definition in the notepad. Not only is this a helpful device to show a child how many new words he or she has learned over a period of time, but it also allows the child to become familiar with the dictionary.

Explore Reading Diversity

Many times children are not interested in reading because they haven't found the type of books that can hold their attention. This particular reading activity will help children explore many different genres of books and learn the different sections of a bookstore or library. Help your child pick one or two books from the following categories to read:

Autobiography/Biography
General Nonfiction
Science Fiction
Historical Fiction
Mystery
Fables/Myths
General Fiction
Poetry
After your child has read a book, have a conversation about what makes this type of book different from ones in the other categories. What parts of the book were liked and disliked. This activity could be even more fun if you also participated in reading adult books from the same genres to compare and contrast the different writing styles with your child.

Discuss Books

Schedule some time each week to talk with your child about books. Whether conversing over dinner or during a drive to the grocery store, talk to your daughter or son about the books the both of you are reading. Ask your child if he or she liked the ending of the last book read or how he or she would change the conclusion. Could your child identify with any of the characters or the setting? What was the best part? How does this book compare to others written by the same author? Share your feelings about a book you have just finished reading.

THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD, engine design, and "I THINK I CAN" are trademarks of Platt & Munk, Publishers, a division of Grosset & Dunlap, Inc., a member of Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers

The Little Engine That Could™ Family Reading Guide