Encouraging reading pays off for everyone

Monica: As a new school year starts, we cannot over-emphasize the importance of reading. The Graduate It Pays initiative (www.graduateitpays.org) through the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce is recruiting 500 adults to read one hour a week for this school year. The benefits are numerous, and readers will receive as much, if not more, than the students they assist.

Hannah: I founded CheeReaders in the summer of 2008. It's a nonprofit organization that recruits cheerleaders to read one-on-one with emerging readers. That year, I went to Cash Elementary once a week to read in different classrooms. The special-needs children became totally captivated when I read to their class. Kindergartners swarmed to me as I walked in the classroom door. Some of the kids that I read to in the first years still greet me when they see me in the hall, telling me how much their reading skills have improved. Sharing the gift of reading has become a meaningful part of my life, especially as I watch the transition from me reading to a student to the student reading to me.

Monica: If you would like to be a reader, please visit the Graduate It Pays website and click "Programs" and then "Corporate Volunteers Program."

"Dino Pets Go to School," by Lynn Poured. Ages 4 and older. Penguin, $16.99.

It's Pet Day at school, and one boy is sure that his tall dinosaur will be a hit. But when his pet doesn't fit on the bus, he tries again with a loud dinosaur. But the creature's lack of an inside voice forces the boy to try again. Surely the spikiest dinosaur will wow his classmates. But when the newest dinosaur puts a spike through the soccer ball at recess, he turns out to be a failure as well. What dinosaur will make Pet Day a success?

Unlike the main character's dinosaurs, this picture book is sure to be an awesome addition to classrooms. Told in catchy, rhyming verse and accompanied by silly pictures, dinosaur lovers will be in dino-heaven.

"Follow the Line to School," by Laura Ljungkvist. Ages 4 and older. Penguin, $16.99.

A bold, black line winds its way through this picture book in a new style of "I Spy." Along the way, learn about the class pet, the alphabet and counting. The line continues on each page, winding around objects for readers to identify. On the lunch page, fruit and pasta fill the page, along with a cake, a burger and an ice-cream cone. The black line spells out the message "Don't forget to wash your hands first" as a creative reminder. It explores many areas of school, including classrooms, the art room, the music room, the cafeteria and the recess area. Bring this book to school and see if you can do the activities in the corresponding places across campus.

"Hornbooks and Inkwells," by Verla Kay. Ages 6 and older. Penguin, $16.99.

What was the first day of school like in an 18th-century, one-room schoolhouse? This book illustrates how girls sat on one side, boys another. In rhyming couplets, it shows how children played with stilts and marbles at recess, and how going to the bathroom meant visiting the outhouse. We couldn't help but think of the Piney Grove Schoolhouse on display in Kernersville's Fourth of July Park.

"George Brown, Class Clown," by Nancy Krulik. Ages 7 to 9, 128 pages. Grosset & Dunlap, $4.99.

You may remember George Brown from the Katie Kazoo series. George is a character worthy of his own series, and his antics often land him in trouble. The fourth-grader wants to be the sportscaster on the school news so badly that he is ready to behave. But what's a boy to do when he needs to burp or when there is a skunk hanging around field day? This book is perfect for reluctant readers who happen to be boys. The series combines humorous plots with funny illustrations.

"The Education of Hailey Kendrick," by Eileen Cook. Ages 14 and older, 256 pages. Simon Pulse, $16.99.

Hailey Kendrick attends a prestigious boarding school and seems to have everything in perfect order. Her grades are top-notch, her boyfriend comes from a movie-star family, and her résumé is loaded with impressive activities. So when Hailey, the consummate rule-follower, gets caught in a very unlikely school prank, everyone is stunned. Hailey refuses to name her co-conspirator and becomes shunned by peers and faculty, even those whom she thought were her closest friends. The experience forces Hailey to re-evaluate the track that she has always followed. She emerges a wiser, better person.