100 Books

A few years ago, our local library got a grant to buy 1000 picture books and pack them in clear backpacks. Checking out all 100 backpacks and reading the 10 books in them makes it simple to complete the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten Reading Challenge. The library doesn’t require that participants read their backpack books, and theoretically you could even read the same book over and over. It’s a neat program that really encourages parents to read aloud and makes it so easy to do.

I’ve struggled with reading aloud ever since I was pregnant with Dan and reading suddenly made my morning (afternoon and evening) sickness unbearable. This year, in an effort to rebuild my read-aloud habit, I finally allowed Dan to check out backpacks from the library. I knew that I didn’t want to read all 1000 books, especially since we got a late start (Dan was almost 4 when we started), but I thought 100 would be a reasonable goal. We started at the beginning of the year and just now wrapped it up! We actually read Dan quite a few more than 10 books at a time because often I would read them along with Eliza and Miri doubling or tripling the count. Because this was about my habit, I didn’t count their reading.

I intentionally picked backpacks with at least one classic picture book I wanted to read to the boys. I wouldn’t normally read an early reader aloud, but the ones in the backpacks had great photos and gave my voice a break. I only would have skipped two books (one on divorce and one with really ugly illustrations) if I’d been prereading, but the kids weren’t permanently harmed by two sub-par books. Miraculously, we didn’t lose a single backpack book in the process.

The training wheels worked! I’m back in read aloud training and ready for the best books. We are excited about moving on to our Sonlight and AmblesideOnline Year 0 lists. Only trouble is I might have to buy a special backpack since I think that was Dan’s favorite part!