Amber Ankowski - Bringing Up Bookmonsters: The Joyful Way to Turn Your Child into a Fearless, Ravenous Reader

A lso by

A mber A nkowski , P h D, and A ndy A nkowski

Think Like a Baby: 33 Simple Research Experiments

You Can Do at Home to Better Understand

Your Childs Developing Mind

A lso by A ndy A nkowski

Goodnight Zoom

illustrated by Amber Ankowski and Sammy Ankowski

For our all-time favorite bookmonsters,
Sammy, Freddy, and Millie

PART I
Giving Birth to Your Bookmonster

PART II
Making Your Bookmonster Feel at Home

PART III
Feeding Your Growing Bookmonster

PART IV
Teaching Your Bookmonster Tricks

C over yourself in khaki and throw on one of those big, round explorer hats. Because were about to go on an adventure.

Past mountains of dirty laundry...

Across carpets booby-trapped with tiny toy landmines...

And deep into the lair of the legendary, elusive creature known as the bookmonster!

Ah yes, the bookmonster. If youve not yet heard the tales of this ambitious and adorable species, here are a few important facts about bookmonsters:

They may be small in stature, but they are full of confidence.

They love to learn and frequently have the grades to prove it.

They are curious, imaginative, and able to keep themselves entertained for hours.

Oh, and before we go any further, theres one more thing about bookmonsters that you really ought to know: There has been a bookmonster hiding inside your child since birth. And this bookthe one you are reading right nowwill show you exactly how to bring it out!

As a parent, you want your child to become an excellent reader, an A student, and a successful, thriving adult. But that sounds like a whole lot of work for you, huh? Well the good news is, it doesnt have to be. Because if we can somehow help our kids not only learn to read but also learn to love reading, theyll be poised to achieve academic, work, and life successall on their own.

Thats what bringing up a bookmonster is all about.

But, you may be wondering, why on earth would I want my child to be a monster? Monsters are rowdy. Messy. Loud. And completely uncontrollable. To that we say, well, yeah. Youve got a point there. But when you think about it, isnt your kid already like that a lot of the time anyway?

Kids are often bursting at the seams with more energy than we parents would sometimes prefer. Thats why were constantly having to clean up their messes, shush their shouting matches, and kiss their bumps and bruises. But if you can help these crazy little kids become bookmonsterschildren who have developed a fearless, joyful, and ravenous love of readingyoull have successfully redirected a healthy chunk of that excess enthusiasm into something surprisingly peaceful and incredibly important.

How important? Well, consider this.

Learning to read is a life-changing development in every childs life. Once kids discover how to crack that code of previously indecipherable letters, numbers, and punctuation marks, they become more powerful and independent than ever before. They can treat themselves to a reading of any book they want, any time they want it. They can figure out if a restaurant serves chocolate milk, or just plain old white milk, without having to ask. And they can make it impossible for us parents to keep secrets simply by spelling words like B-E-D-T-I-M-E right in front of them.

But these basic language and literacy skills are only the beginning.

Remember that a bookmonster doesnt just know how to reada bookmonster absolutely adores reading. And its that insatiable appetite for the written word that can truly transform your childs entire developmental trajectory. Becoming a bookmonster will let your child experience the immediate effects of morphing into a book-devouring animal with mad reading abilities right now, plus continue to benefit your child in all sorts of ways throughout life. Thats because bookmonsters commonly experience higher levels of rewarding stuff like:

Kids who love language and books will learn to read well before their non-book-loving peers, giving them a major leg up when starting school. Research shows that kids who have a head start early on in school frequently maintain it throughout later grades. And being a great reader will benefit your child not only in English classes but in learning every other subject, too.

Getting good grades in school, receiving positive attention from parents, and having confidence in their ability to learn whatever they want by simply reading about it will help kids feel pretty great about themselves.

The more experience kids get reading about characters who feel and express a range of emotions, the more prepared theyll be to develop high-level social skills like empathy.

Being a bookmonster gives your childs imagination plenty of practice. Knowing how to transform words written on a page into entire imaginary worlds in your mind is a skill that transfers to lots of other things in lifelike envisioning the steps youll take to fix a faucet, dreaming up an amazing new smoothie flavor, or figuring out which job will make you happiest.

When you invest time and energy in raising your kid as a bookmonster, it creates a meaningful parent-child bond that can become a blueprint for your little ones ability to form healthy relationships in the future.

Starting kids off on the right foot with strong literacy skills increases the likelihood that theyll earn higher degrees and hold higher paying jobs. They will also feel happier, freer, and more fulfilled. What could be more satisfying than that?

Teaching your child to read is a nice goal, but an even better one is showing your child how to be a creative critical thinker. And the awesome news is that by bringing your kid up as a bookmonster, you will automatically be doing both.

Chances are, you picked up this book because youre interested in the all-important, ultra-serious, and thoroughly terrifying task of Teaching Your Child to Read. Think that sounds a bit over-the-top and intimidating? So do we. But if youve perused any of the other books on childrens literacy out there, you may have noticed that its a fairly typical point of view. Most other resources make teaching children to read seem overly difficult and technical. They make you think that you need worksheets and flashcards, book lists and lesson plansand above all, hours and hours (and hours) of effort.

But bookmonsters dont need any of that stuff.

Our secret for raising kids who learn to talk early, read easily, and love learning is also stress and worry free. You wont find anything that resembles formal instruction in this book, because what parent has the time or energy to sit down for formal instruction with their kids even once, much less several times a week? Not us! Not you! And in our experience, kids can smell formal instruction coming a mile awayand will do absolutely whatever it takes to avoid it.