the "special" book box

in our home we have a bookshelf or container to store reading materials in every single room.  sometimes two shelves in one room.  we have ALOT of books...books of all sorts.  in our living room, even though we have two bookshelves we also have a "special" book basket that holds the kids' library books, and any seasonal books we might have.  i like to pull out special books throughout the year, or go to the library to get special books pertaining to the season, holiday, or any other special event going on in our lives.  right now we have a big wooden box under the tree filled with all of our christmas books.  the kids get so excited about whatever seasonal books we have out, and it encourages them to pick them up and read because they are right there at their level in plain sight, and often times they are new titles that they have not read before, or haven't read in a long time.

this isn't just a handy thing to do for seasons & holidays, but for any special topic of interest that your kids are curious about.  this summer we took the kids to see the cleopatra exhibit at the cincinnati museum center, and it kindled an obsession with all things egyptian for a while, so our box was full of books about mummies, pyramids, etc.  and then after egypt their focus was on severe weather, so we stocked up on books about tornadoes, lightning and storms at our local library. 

i came up with this idea when i was teaching preschool, because we would rotate the books we had on our shelves and the kids seemed to love the variety and new titles.  

so get out to your local library and stock up on books that will satisfy your children's curiosities or tell them more about the celebrations you are attending.  and consider a book box of your own, the novelty of the book box might get your kids more excited about reading!