How to Raise a Reader

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Pamela Paul is the editor of The New York TimesBook Review and oversees books coverage at The New York Times, which she joined in 2011 as the children's books editor. She is also the host of the weekly Book Review podcast for the Times. She is the author and editor of five books: My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues, The Starter Marriage and the Future of Matrimony, Pornified, Parenting, Inc., and By the Book. She is a former columnist for The Economist, Worth, and The New York Times Styles section. Her work has also appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Slate, Vogue, Psychology Today, Brown Alumni Magazine, and other national publications. She lives with her husband and three children in New York. Maria Russo is the children's books editor of The New York TimesBook Review. She has been a writer and editor at the Los Angeles Times, The New York Observer, and Salon, and holds a Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University. She lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with her husband and three children.

Do you remember your first visit to where the wild things are? Or curling up for hours on end to discover the secret of the Sorcerer's Stone, or the fate of the "one ring to rule them all?" So now, as parents, how do you instill in your kids that timeless, time-stopping, and extremely valuable joy of reading? Written by Pamela Paul, who oversees all book coverage at The New York Times, and Maria Russo, the children's book editor at the Times - and inspired by their 2018 article that went viral instantly, reaching hundreds of thousands of Times readers - How to Raise a Reader combines clear practical advice, wisdom, inspiration, tips, lists, and insider know-how to give parents all the tools they need to instill a love of reading in their children. Divided into four sections that correspond to the child's age and reading level, from baby to teenager - and whimsically illustrated by a different children's book artist per section - each page of the book offers something useful: how to develop rituals around reading, best ways to make reading a family activity, how to engage a reluctant reader, why not to push Harry Potter too early, building a library. There are "Pro Tips for Reading Out Loud," "What to Look for in Middle Grade Graphic Novels," "When Teenagers Take Reading Time-Outs," and so much more. Including an extensive final chapter listing "Books to Love by Theme and Reading Level," an invaluable reference for parents, grandparents, and even kids looking for their next book. School is where children learn they have to read. Home is where children can learn to love to read - and become readers. And reading, as experts now know, is essential to developing those life skills, like self-regulation and executive function, that make us all-around happier and better adjusted.

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