Reading with my children has been a priority in our home since we brought our eldest son home from the hospital almost 8 years ago now. It’s woven into our daily rhythms so much so, that I couldn’t imagine our life without books.
This quote really drove my intention to read to my children as a new mom:
“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents”
~Emilie Buchwald
Since I spend my free time devouring books, I always dreamed my children would as well. One way I have intentionally worked to instill a love of reading in my children is by rotating our books each month. I gather the books from their bedrooms, and move them to a living room/play area and vice versa. I also pack away seasonal books and pull them out when the season arrives. After a while, my kids start ignoring the books on their shelves. They almost forget they even exist. Making this simple location change magically makes them seem brand new again. The kids are back to reading again! (we do this with toys too. it’s AMAZING!)
When it’s a new season however, I don’t simply just pull the books out and place them on the shelf. I make it new and exciting! I’ll spread the seasonal books all over the kitchen table so it’s the first thing they see when they come downstairs in the morning. I sometimes make it even more exciting by having the house decorated for the new season as an extra surprise that morning!
For example, on October 1, the kids came downstairs to find our table FULL of Halloween books! Our mantle had pumpkins and a spooky banner hung! Our TV stand held a cute little BOO sign and our kitchen table had a new Halloween centerpiece. We didn’t eat breakfast until almost 9am because they were so enthralled with their “new” books. These are books we’ve read hundreds of time, but to them, they were fresh and new.
Every year we acquire new books and have to retire others. As I’m writing this during naptime, I noticed the Halloween books must have already migrated all over the house and into little napping kid bedrooms. I do not have an exhaustive list of Halloween books we own, but here are some pictures and a list to show books that are well loved in our house during the Halloween season.
Board books pictured (soft cover books covered in next image)-
Eek Halloween by Sandra Boynton
Paw Patrol Halloween Heroes
Halloween Bugs A Trick or Treat Pop-up by David Carter
Biscuits Pet and Play Halloween by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
It’s Pumpkin Day, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond
Halloween Jack
Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
Little Blue Truck’s Halloween by Alice Schertle
Books pictured above:
Happy Halloween Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt
It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown by Charles Schultz
The Berenstain Bears Go on a Ghost Walk by Stan and Jan Berenstain
Splat the Cat and the Pumpkin Picking Plan by Rob Scotton
Monster Academy by Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat by Lucille Colandro
Happy Halloween Little Critter by Mercer Mayer
I Spy a Pumpkin by Jean Marzollo