Born Reading by Jason Boog

When I read the introduction, I thought this was going to be a stuffy book. I'm not sure why, since it talks about how he used his reading journey with his daughter, but I suppose the style of writing and the repeated use of the term "interactive reading" scared me a little. But, when I actually started reading this book, I was surprised by how easy to read it was.

Oh, and if you're wondering why I'm reading this book when I'm neither a parent nor expecting (I'm not even married or attached!), it's because:

a. I have a little brother who's 10 years younger than me, and I was hoping I could learn something that I can use while reading with him when I'm back in Singapore and
b. I want to teach more kids English, and I do think that if I prepare myself, the students will come.

Does Born Reading give me any useful information? I think so.

This book basically promotes something called Interactive Reading, which basically, is reading to your child while asking questions. I do this with my bro, so yay!

But for me, the real value of the book lies in its exploration on how to mix traditional print book with ebooks or apps. While a lot of the app recommendations are targetted for babies and toddlers (I only found a few websites my brother can use in the last chapter), there is a compelling story of how to raise up a reader in this technology age.

I really enjoyed reading Jason Boog's story of how he turned an app into a full-on experience (you can do related activities too), and his very thorough recommendations on which apps to use, and for what. He also has something called a Reading Kit that may interest parents.

Overall, I really like this book. There's a lot of sound advice, and I think it manages to tread the middle-line between an electronic-device ban and using an iPad as a babysitter.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Goodreads in exchange for a free and honest review.