Product Description
An important addition to the library of any parent who wants to give a child the gift of learning--and loving--to read.Now updated with important advice about utilizing the Internet

You will learn:
- how and why you are integral to your child's reading progress
- how to read aloud with your child from birth through the teenage years
- how to use games and storytelling to make reading fun
- how to work with your child's teachers--sand what to do if the school

won't cooperate
- how to overcome reading slumps and book boredom
- how to nurture your gifted reader
- how to avoid gimmicks that will sidetrack you and your child
- how to find the best--and the safest--places on the Web for reading support and ideas

How to Make Your Child a Reader for Life includes lists of over three hundred "must-have" books you and your child can enjoy.Broken down into different categories--easy books for reluctant readers, surefire books for bored readers, scary books, classic books, fantasy books, even books for adolescent readers who won't read anything!--How to Make Your Child a Reader for Life makes it easy for you to find the titles that will spark your child's imagination and make your child a reader for life.
Amazon.com Review
The news about children's reading is not good. Only 45% of fourth graders read for pleasure and by twelfth grade, only 24% find joy in reading. But Paul Kropp, a teacher for 20 years and author of young adult novels, has better news: the road to reading can be paved by parents because "reading is not a skill, it is an attitude." How to Make Your Child a Reader for Life is a wonderfully practical primer about how families can discover the joy of reading together.

Kropp grounds his suggestions in the intriguing premise that reading is a social activity. He offers a crash course in "two thousand years of reading out loud" noting that for most of recorded history, reading silently was unusual and reading aloud was the norm. For example, medieval kings and queens had manuscripts read to them, St. Augustine read to the Benedictine monks, and Englishmen gathered in pubs for a reading of the latest installment of a Charles Dickens novel. Kropp urges parents to begin reading aloud to their babes in arms and to never stop reading together.

Kropp packs every page with energy, fresh ideas, must-read book lists and nongimmicky "reading solutions." He offers parents a "three R" model (read with your child every day, reach into your pocket to buy books, rule the media). Several chapters are devoted to the developmental ages and stages of reading--beginning with floating vinyl books in a baby's bath and ending with ideas for engaging what Kropp calls "aliterate" teens who can read, but don't. Other sections explore specific reading challenges including bored readers, reluctant readers, gifted readers, reading slumps, and "dysteachia" (bad teachers).

Kropp believes that reading should be a birthright for all of our children. The beauty of this book is that every chapter helps parents to deliver on this promise. Just imagine what might happen if a copy of How to Make Your Child a Reader for Life accompanied every newborn home from the hospital. --Barbara Mackoff ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Get this book!
Reassuring yet truthful, this book is extremely well-organized and clearly written.The sidebars make it feel less like a textbook and the focus on real-world examples make it easy to implement.I read this as a parent, but I'm looking into using some of the ideas as a teacher.Buy it for a new parent!

Pick up books
It's a word without words these days.I can only imagine that once people were telling their kids to put down the books rather than their video games, TV, or to get off the computer.Now, with all the gagets and technologic advances, books are becoming obselete.What to do to make kids not just readers but to be literate enough to get by in the world?This is a great how to for parents and educators (short and sweet) about how to get kids to read not just as kids but to condition them for life.

Must have book for every parent!
This book is very easy to read and provides advice for every age from infant to adult.It also gives great suggestions on what books to read for each age group and how children transition from reading words to critical thinking.I could not put it down, and will be recommending it to all of my friends and my children's principal.

A good read on raising a reader
This book had great practical advice for each stage in your child's reading life.Particularly helpful were the suggestions on overcoming difficult stages when children might tend to become apathetic towards reading. I also appreciated the emphasis on the total experience of reading, rather than the simple ability to identify words on a page.In addition I found it reassuring to hear that my husband's and my own enjoyment of reading will go a long way towards influencing our kid's desire to read.

Readable and reassuring
Kropp has real-life advice for parents who believe, as he does, that reading is one of life's great joys.He emphasizes the importance ofbuilding a literate household--where fiction, nonfiction, magazines, andnewspapers abound--and everyone reads.While you can't pick up amainstream parenting magazine without seeing an article on the importanceof reading to your baby, Kropp deals with keeping your child out of readingslumps throughout school and with or without the support of an 'A' schooland teacher to lead the way.

It's a quick read (ironically) and a greatresource for parents. ... Read more

Product Description
Alan Macklin has started his first year at university and he’s saying goodbye to his old life: no more curfews and parental interference, no more high school courses he doesn’t want to take; and, most importantly, no more striking out with girls. At least that’s the plan. But the world of university dating is more complicated than he ever could have imagined. Even his devoutly religious roommate seems to have more luck than him.

His ex-girlfriend Maggie still gives him advice, but it seems that no matter what, Alan can only get so far with a girl.


From the Trade Paperback edition. ... Read more

Product Description
A family struggles with mysterious occurrences involving an old house, a ghost, and a clairvoyant sister. ... Read more

Product Description
A depressed girl is brought to an appreciation of the value of life by a friend suffering from leukemia. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Amy's Wish
Amy's Wish is a book that centers around the lives of two teenage girls that are contrasting in personality while they both face life threatening challenges.One of the girls has many problems with her family and her ownabuse of alcohol.The other girl is always treats this person with apositive attitude and respect. Eventually each of the girls have theopportunity to make the most of their lives inspite of the challenges theyface.Find out how they work together to the benefit of the other and askyourself if you could fullfill Amy's Wish if you had a similar challenge. Students read it more than once for the pure enjoyment of a fine story anda motiviation in their lives. ... Read more

Product Description
Jack and the Punks think they're tough, but Charlie and the Saints don't like getting pushed around so the two gangs fight it out in the last rumble. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

It was the best book I had read.
This book was about kids that are in gangs.They only like to hang around.Another gang wanted to scare them away. So they jumped one of the guys from the other gang.This book taught me not to be in gangs because you could really get hurt.This book is good for kids that think that gangsaregood. ... Read more

Product Description
Setting out over the frozen bush for help, two survivors of a plane crash are ready for anything except the snow ghost they encounter. ... Read more

Product Description
Trustworthy advice for parents who want to rear bright, polite children-and a contrarian look at hot-button parenting issues, from quality time to good manners.

With myriad parenting books available today, it's no wonder parents are confused by the range of opinions and quick fixes these books offer. I'll Be the Parent, You Be the Child leaves theories behind and gives parents of school-age children practical approaches for handling fundamental child-rearing issues. Out of a welter of parenting fads and on-going cultural upheavals, Paul Kropp answers parents' number-one question, "What is the right way to rear our children to become responsible, well-adjusted adults?"

Kropp responds with irrefutable evidence that favors time-honored essentials for parenting success, from providing unconditional love to setting consistent rules-qualities we know are easily overlooked in favor of feel-good fads. Next he tackles specific, topical problems that concern parents most, offering advice that often runs counter to fashion but that parents will cheer. Topics include praise and its dangers; quality time, and why it never works; privacy, and why too much of it is a bad thing; allowance, and the true purpose of giving a child his own money; and much more.

This is a bracing, often humorous, book that debunks easy, TV-style parenting and provides down-to-earth problem-solving that parents can really use, with lots of real-life examples. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

My affirmation made easy!
This book is so wonderful and has really helped me.I often forget to remember that I am the parent and my child is the child.How often do we find ourselves engaging is "childish" behavior with our children!?I didn't really read this book all that closely, but I find it really helpful to just leave it out on the coffee table as a silent, albiet wordy, reminder:I am the parent and you (well, my child) is the child.

Interresting and thought provoking
Many controversial modern parenting issues explored in an honest and sometimes humerous way. The many chapters are like a collection of short articles on various topics of concern to parents. I agreed with some things, disagreed with others but overall found it a worthwhile read. ... Read more

Product Description
Adjusting to a new city and high school is tough enough for anyone. But with their separated parents complicating matters, it's almost impossible for Ian (Moonkid) and his sister Liberty. Unlike his sister, Ian takes pride in the fact that he doesn't fit in. It takes humor and more than a little strength for the two to pull together, but Moonkid and liberty find a way. ... Read more

Product Description
A teenager faces the consequences of his decision to buy a stolen Corvette from professional car thieves. ... Read more

Product Description
Kate saves Wild One from harsh treatment and gets to train the horse herself, but will she be able to prove he can race before it's too late? ... Read more

Product Description
With the help of a former member of Alcoholics Anonymous, a member of a cycle racing team learns to control his drinking and restore a sense of purpose to his life. ... Read more

Product Description
Three teenagers try to deal with a mysterious set of fires only to end up trapped in the basement of a burning house set on fire by arsonists. ... Read more

Product Description
A young boy, upset by his parents' separation, turns to shoplifting which eventually leads to a brush with the law. ... Read more

Product Description
His family problems, coupled with his first experience with girls and a class bully who has taken a dislike to him, leave a 14-year-old in a state of confusion. ... Read more

Product Description
Micro Man and his buddy, Rob, try to find out who is tampering with the school's computers and funds. ... Read more