How I Got Them To Read

By Lady Gray, February 14, 2017 — As a child, I loved books and one the best days of my life came when my mom got me a library card. I was the weird kid who went to the library. I seldom hung out with other students unless they were going to the library, too. I wasn’t popular, didn’t play sports and was not that outgoing. I didn’t get invited to parties and when other girls were outside jumping double-dutch, I was under a tree or on my porch reading a book.

When I grew up, got married and had a family; I hoped that my children would have a love for reading too. Alas, I found myself the only female in a house full of males who did not share my passion for reading. I got them the usual Cat In The Hat © books when they were little and they even like the Choose Your Own Adventure series © when they reached school age. Still, getting them to read other books no matter how many I had in the house was futile at best. They did enjoy the Highlights magazine but I couldn’t afford to get subscriptions for every level: pre-school, elementary, middle and teen so eventually they stopped.

I do remember the time I was able to get them to pick up a book without much coaxing. I had subscribed to a series that offered books accompanied by a cassette tape. The cassette played the story as the child read the book and when they heard a certain tone, they turned the page. When finances got strained and I could not keep that subscription going, I got an a-ha moment!

I grabbed a few books from our over-stuffed bookcase, my tape recorder and some blank tapes. I also grabbed our telephone which at the time was shaped like a piano; black and white keys and all. It reminded you of a toy piano but it was an actual working phone. I found a quiet place while the boys were at school and in my best animated voices, I recorded myself reading each book and included the phrase, “when you hear the tone (which was played on my piano phone), turn the page.”

To my surprise, my guys were curious enough to play the cassettes while reading the books. I made it a competition to get them to read more. I promised them a $2 bill for each book they read and by the end of summer, their reading levels had improved. They even traded with each other so they could read even more. We had so many books already; I didn’t have to buy any for a while. It was fun for me too, selecting the books and coming up with different voices for the characters to keep it interesting and stay ahead of their new appetite for books.

Another plus, when there was extra space at the end of a story tape, I recorded recipes from a book called

Naturally It’s Good, I Made It Myself

and my guys would hear the tone when it was time to add a new ingredient or do a new task. They turned into some very good cooks and they still are. We had the best time ever.