I'm a reader, and have been as long as I can remember. So when my children were babies, I read to them as much as they liked, and had all sorts of books for them to hold, look at, and even sometimes, sleep with!

But for some reason, even though both the older kids are good readers, they just weren't "into" books the way I was. It was hard for them to transition from picture books to chapter books.

So I just bought bags and bags of books; at bookstores, yard sales, remainder sales, you name it. I thought that if the books were available, reading would follow.

It didn't happen. I asked the children's librarian at the county library. She vaguely handed me some flyers with lists and lists of suggested titles. I faithfully brought home twenty or so books a week. The kids might glance at ones with interesting titles, but rarely got past the first chapter, much less finished the book.

Honestly, I was getting frustrated. Here I had bright, capable kids, hundreds of books, but no real reading. (Add to that the kids were singing the dreaded refrain, "I'm booored").  I finally asked the school librarian, Shari, what to do. She told me it's fairly common for kids to struggle when moving to longer length books, books that can't be finished in one sitting. But, being the expert she is, she also had a solution, "Get the kids hooked on series," she told me. "Series books like Junie B Jones and Magic Tree House are fairly short and easy for kids to finish. Then, when they start the next book in the series, they don't have to 'get into it' because they already know the characters and the basic plot set-up."

So, I tried it. First I brought home three Secrets of Droon books. No luck with either (I think they're just a little too long for this stage). Next, I tried Encyclopedia Brown. Still, too much for a seven-year-old. Finally I bought (gasp! at the book store! for full price!) one of the books from Bailey School Kids series. (Santa Doesn't Mop Floors). My son read it, and liked it! Hooray! Then, just as Shari predicted, he wanted to read other books in the series. I believe he read about five or six. After that he was ready for the Magic Tree House books. For some reason, these were his favorite. He read about twenty of those.

After that exposure to longer books he did fairly well. He read one or two books of other series: Boxcar Children, Secrets of Droon, Seventh Tower, The Hardy Boys, and more.

I did the same thing with my daughter, and she was hooked on Junie B Jones and The Secrets of Droon. She tried some of the Mandie Series, too.

Now that they are a bit older, (eight and ten) getting them to read is less difficult. My daughter Chloe (the eight-year-old) is still hooked on series, although she likes to read books by the same author. (Currently she's hooked on Beverly Cleary). I do find that if I haven't caught the kids reading for a while, I need to pique their interest in certain titles, but it's much easier now!