My Little Bookworm DS

When I first met Jason and Holden, Holden was not a reader. He was a video/computer game kid.
He was supposed to read daily for school, but it wasn't an easy task to get him to read.
His reading consisted of whatever dialogue the video game characters spoke to each other.

I knew that playing video games would probably never be a commonality for Holden and me, but I love to read! Give me a good children's book or great Christian fiction book and I am completely content to cuddle up in bed and read until I fall asleep. I have always been a reader. Some of my best memories as a child were books, even when my mom took away "Forever" by Judy Blume after I read "Chapter 9". I can also remember filling my toy refrigerator and stove with as many books as I could. They were so full sometimes I couldn't even get the doors to shut. I would just dump them all out on the floor and read the same books over and over again.

How could I get this little man who was soon to be my son to love reading as much as I did and do?

I knew that he enjoyed "boy potty humor" so I started buying him CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS books.
Reading about all sorts of bodily functions became a normal part of our evenings for awhile.
As long as poop, farts, and underpants were part of the reading, Holden was entertained.

I slowly introduced him to more "quality" literature. "101 Ways to Bug My Parents" by Lee Wardlaw was the first "real" chapter book he actually read completely. It was a struggle at first. He didn't want to read alone. He didn't want to read for "20 whole minutes". I started out reading to him the entire 20 minutes then transitioning to spending the first 10 minutes reading to him and letting him finish the last 10 minutes. Sometimes tears were involved, but slowly it became a normal part of our evenings.

Once we were officially a family, living in the same home, I was able to set a consistent evening schedule of bath time-reading-and lights out. There is rarely an argument and never tears anymore. Reading is part of Holden's daily life, just like playing games.

The first really good book he read was "Tale of Despereaux" by Kate DiCamillo. This is probably one of my all time favorite children's novels. It is the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread. It doesn't get any better than this.
Holden loved it so much; he read the entire book in one weekend. Tonight he even suggested we buy it for his friend's birthday. I was so proud!

When summer came, I wanted trips to the library and reading to continue to be part of our routine. Each summer I try to read several of the Texas Bluebonnet nominees to prepare myself for the new school year. As a mom for the first time, I was excited to share these books with my fourth grader. We took turns reading them and talking about our favorite parts. By the end of the summer Holden and I had both read at least 8 of the 20 nominees. It was nice to have something in common to talk about.

Holden had been asking for a Nintendo DS (handheld game system) for months, but I really didn't want to buy one more game system. Holden talked about saving his allowance and buying it for himself. He already had a Gamecube, an XBox, a Gameboy, and a Wii. I knew that eventually we would get it, but one morning I had a "brilliant" idea. I asked Jason what he thought about challenging Holden to read ALL 20 of the Bluebonnet nominees, and when he finished, we would buy him the DS. Jason agreed that that would be a good deal.

When we presented the idea to Holden, he was ALL FOR IT! I made up a tracking sheet for him to hang in his bedroom. He was so proud every time he checked off another book.

Now some might think that reading to earn something isn't the same as having a love for reading, but if you saw how our boy reads, you wouldn't think that way. He has really enjoyed every one of the 20 books. I think his favorite is "Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo" by Obert Skye. He has EARNED his DS just like we earn money to buy things we want.

A couple of weeks ago he realized that he was only 4 books away from his goal! Owning a DS was actually becoming a reality for him. I told him that if he worked really hard, he might just have it before Thanksgiving. He made a plan that would make it happen. Each day he knew exactly how long he needed to read and how many pages he had to finish. Having a book report due this Friday helped push him along a little bit.

As I watched my little bookworm eat his way through each of those final books, I was so full of pride! He wanted to read! Yes, his initial goal was to get them finished so he would get his DS, but he was reading and he enjoyed it! He has come so far in such a short amount of time. My son loves to read! I love sharing my favorite books with him! I bragged to everyone I know, "MY son is almost finished reading ALL 20 Bluebonnet books!!!"

Tonight he only had about 50 more pages to read in "Firegirl" by Tony Abbott and all of the picture book "Ballet of the Elephants" by Leda Schubert, and he would be FINISHED!!!! After dinner I took him to Barnes and Noble to read "Ballet of the Elephants", On the way he sat in the backseat with his flashlight finishing "Firegirl". By the time we got home, he only had 3 more pages to read!!!

Jason and I had the DS all plugged in and charged up for him. He ran in to get it when he was finished. I have always cringed when I watched him play his video games, but tonight as I went in his room to take pictures of him playing with his new Nintendo DS, I was proud!!! Proud of his accomplishment. Proud of his perseverance. Proud of my son the gamer and reader!!!

I think I did something right!

http://www.txla.org/groups/tba/nominees.html