Cleaning out the Bookshelves

This past weekend, I was cleaning out my house because my family has added onto the existing structure.  As my son's and I were cleaning out their bookshelves it was interesting for me to see how their tastes in books have changed over time.  I feel that it is important to continue to help children realize the need for picking just right books.  So often children put things into labels, which would include girl books, boy books or baby books.  As preschoolers, they loved Thomas the Train, Iron-man, lullaby stories, and ABC books. In kindergarten, they loved Frog and Toad, and Dr Seuss. Now they are both in elementary school and because of their ages their tastes even vary more.  Xavier, my older son, who is nine years old, is choosing most of his own books which range from Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Civil War stories and biographies.  Xander, my younger son, who is 6 years old, is still learning the importance of fluent reading and decoding words.  A lot of his reading are from books that are in his nightly reading bag from his teacher.  He still loves to be read to from a variety of text.  I think that Xander feels as though he needs to compete with his older brother who has in my opinion turned into an "Independent Reader".

For me as a teacher and mom, I feel if children are reading books that are in their independent reading level and are understanding what they are reading that success has been achieved.  I feel as though the parent is the most important teacher for their child and it is their responsibility to promote literacy skills.  It is my hope that every child develop a life-long love of reading although the mantra that it takes a village to raise a child is very important to remember.