58: Encouraging a Love of Reading (with Tricia Fraser)

Guest: Tricia Fraser

• Click to read the article by Tricia
• “When we slow down and read a book, it gives us an opportunity to think about things deeply and to use our imaginations.”
• “When kids have a choice of what to read, it helps them discover more of what they like.”
• “We want to be modeling a love of books, we want to be sharing books with them, because the goal is to have them have their own motivation to read that’s internal.”
• “The single biggest thing that anybody - teachers and parents - can do to help kids learn to love to read is to read to them.”
• Battle of the Books
• Sources for finding books: Redeemed Reader, Read-Aloud Revival, WORLD Magazine, Triple Crown Awards, The Tome Society, Shadow Mountain
• Tricia’s recent read: Within These Lines by Stephanie Morrill
• Keane’s recent reads: Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett and Bo the Brave by Bethan Woollvin
• Christian authors with undertones of Christian worldview: Books by N. D. Wilson, The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson, The Green Ember series by S. D. Smith

Book Suggestions from Tricia:

• Kindergarten-Grade 2:
• Tales That Tell the Truth by Various Authors: Bible story picture books, all illustrated by Catalina Echeverri. 
• Hanna's Cold Winter by Trish Marx: This is a story of trying to keep the hippos in the Budapest zoo fed all winter during WWII, based on a true story. 
• Mars Needs Moms! by Berkeley Breathed: I read this story at Easter as a new way of illustrating Jesus' sacrificial love for us, comparing our relationship with Him to the relationship of the little boy in the story with his mom. 
• Grades 3-5
• The Penderwicks Series by Jeanne Birdsall: These are adventure-filled friendship stories with a lot of heart.  
• Inkling by Kenneth Oppel: An inkblot comes to life and the son of a famous artist has to decide whether or not to let the inkblot do his art project for him. Adventure and peril ensue. 
• The Dead Sea Squirrels series by Mike Nawrocki: Some Bible-era squirrels are found in the Dead Sea caverns and come back to life in the modern United States. This leads to adventures, along with lessons that the squirrels picked up from a certain preacher they heard near the Sea of Galilee.
• Grades 6-8
• The Invisible Boy by Alyssa Hollingsworth: Modern-day slavery hiding under our noses is addressed well, for middle school audiences. 
• The Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan: Adventure, bows & arrows, good guys vs. bad guys, what's not to love?
• Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk: This beautifully written historical fiction is set in Appalachia during WWII. It deals with racism and one young girl's response to injustice in her community. 
• Teens
• Deleted by Ruth Mitchell: What if our iphones were glasses, connected directly into our brains through our ears? And then what if someone figured out how to hack our brains and delete memories? The concept is so interesting, with a lot of peril, combined with just a touch of philosophy. 
• You Bring the Distant Near and Forward Me Back to You by Mitali Perkins: Perkins deals with issues of immigration, race, abuse, human trafficking, and other difficult issues, without shying away from the hard stuff, but also not too graphic for students middle school and up. 
• Ultraviolet by R. J. Anderson: A sixteen year old wakes up in a mental institution and tries to figure out if her memories are true. Is she mentally ill? Or is something else going on? This book has a lot of twists and turns that I really enjoyed. 
• All-Time Favorites for Family Read-Alouds (Elementary and up):
• The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
• Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
• The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong 

What’s changing our lives:

• Keane: Bookmarking things more often
• Heather: Walks in the wintry woods
• Tricia: Becoming TeachBeyond team leaders in Hungary

Weekly Spotlight: International Christian School of Budapest

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