Welcome to 2026! Having read one too many dire reports about research indicating that reading comprehension is declining because kids don’t read full novels, we’re declaring this year The Year of the Book. I’ll post links to the studies so you can read them for yourselves. I’ll also post about books for different ages and interests, along with ways for you to help your child engage with their books.
Why it matters
Most kids are used to reading excerpts. That means they are presented with writing on a specific topic or theme, often without the text that brings them into a scene. In other words, they are reading the part with the answer to the question they’ll be asked. (Sort of like searching for something and reading the text that relates to the question.) The problem with that is that reading comprehension requires the ability to sort through what relates to the question you’re asked and what does not. It takes practice.
The Challenge
Let’s start slow and challenge our kids to read TEN full books this year. If you put the title they’re reading in the comments or send it to us via our contact form, we’ll be sure to have material to support them while they read that book. Here are four ideas to get you on your way:
Help them start
Read the first chapter along with your kid, use our Opening Questions posts, or let us know the title, and we’ll create material for you to use. The main thing is to make it fun – not a quiz. The more you can help your reader envision and understand the world around the action, the better able they will be to slip into the storyworld and enjoy the ride.
Provide context
There are many negatives to the internet, but one stellar positive is the way it can be used to provide context for a book. If they’re reading about a shipyard, find an image or short video clip of a shipyard. If they’re reading about a cogwheel, look it up – not just in words but also with an image. The better able your reader is to be “in” the world of the story, the better able they’ll be to understand what’s going on.
Book ideas
For your youngest kids, encourage them to read books in series like Frog and Toad or Henry and Mudge. For slightly older kids, try series like The Magic Tree House, Junie B. Jones, or Wayside School. Older than that? How about books by Andrew Clements and Beverly Cleary? You’ll find other books here, or let me know what you’re looking for and I’ll suggest a few titles.
If a book sounds like a big commitment for your older kids, start with short stories – we’ll have several to recommend in the coming weeks, ranging from the one-page “Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan to longer works by Chekhov.
Bottom Line
Reading comprehension isn’t about grades or test scores. It’s about a life skill that kids need to make their way in the world. Think about how many times you need to get information from text that is not designed to answer a specific question. If you were not able to pick out what matters with confidence, how would you get things done? There’s also the SEL aspect (Social and Emotional Learning) of classic works like those by Beverly Cleary, Andrew Clements, and Lucy Maud Montgomery, in which kids literally step into someone else’s world and walk around with them. What I’m saying is that your kids will benefit in the long run from the time spent reading now.