Did you know that January is Book Blitz Month? I had no idea! January is usually my biggest reading month because I get new books for Christmas that I can’t wait to dig into. Book Blitz Month was created to inspire people to read more, something that I’m always on board with! As you know, I’m passionate about getting others to read. Literacy isn’t one of the most important skills we can teach our kids, it is THE most important. Without the ability to read, all the other skills are kind of hard to learn, don’t you agree?
So, aside from grabbing a random book, how can we make Book Blitz month exciting and really inspire everyone in the family to dig in and read? Check out my tips!
How to Make Book Blitz Month Fun for Everyone
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- Start a family challenge. Who said challenges were just for the summer? Set up a family challenge to see who can read the most books or pages. I recommend tracking pages because some books are really short! My son would totally read 50 10-page books just to boost his count. Keep track on a blackboard, spreadsheet or fancy-shmancy poster board.
- Take turns reading to each other. This is perfect if you have younger kids just learning to read. Let them show off their skills by reading to you one night, then you can read to them the next. Of course, even if you have older children, you can still take turns.
- Have a month-long reading scavenger hunt. Right now, at the beginning of the Book Blitz month, gather everyone together and create a list. Add different types of reading materials to your list, such as a superhero comic book, a new recipe that everyone in the family will love, a literary classic, a funny story from a magazine, a heartwarming newspaper story, etc. Make sure you include something of interest to everyone. Throughout the month, every member of the family has to read at least one thing for each item on the list. Once a week (or more), get together and share your progress!
- Create book-themed days or weeks. Reading Harry Potter? Make recipes from the series! My brother got me the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook last year for Christmas and it’s filled with cool recipes! Melissa Gilbert also wrote a great book for Little House fans called My Prairie Cookbook: Memories and Frontier Food from My Little House to Yours
. You can also dress up as your favorite characters during themed days and even insist that everyone talk like them!
- Write your own book together! What better way to inspire kids to read than to let them write the book themselves! Gather the family and come up with a theme. Scholastic has a great resource called Story Starters if you’re having a hard time coming up with inspiration. You choose a theme, put in your child’s name and grade, then spin the wheel. I picked Fantasy and my spin gave me: Describe the myth of an obnoxious goblin who is transformed into a willow tree. You can even use the site to create your story if you want. Just make sure everyone in the family has a chance to add some bits and pieces. When it’s finished, ask your child to read it to you.
These are just a few fun ways to celebrate Book Blitz month and really get kids excited about reading. Need more tips? Check out my summer reading challenge post to get kids interesting in reading. It’s not just for summer!
Looking for book recommendations for the whole family? All month long, I’ll be featuring fabulous authors & great reads to add to your to-be-read pile. Be sure to come back and check them out!
How will you celebrate Book Blitz Month? Tell me in the comments!
I never knew that January was book blitz month before. when I was growing up, Pizza Hut used to do a book promotion where if you read X amount of books you got a free mini pizza- I loved that!
This year I entered a reading challenge for the first time. It is the 2015 Reading Challenge were I have to read 50 books this year so that is a book a week until the Christmas break. There are all different kinds of themes such as: Finish a book that you previously hadn’t finished or read a book published this year. I can’t wait to find time to get a list of them together but I am really enjoying it!
Those are some great ways to get reading again. I used to read so much before. I have to start up again.
I LOVE the idea of creating book themed days! Anything to encourage more reading is okay in my book! I got so many new books for Christmas and I can’t wait to read them this month <3
Omg I really love this idea!!! Anything to encourage more reading gets a thumbs up from me!!
What a fun idea! I love to read and love that both of my daughters do too. I feel it is so important to enjoying reading. I love the idea of a fun challenge.
These are great ideas to get families reading more. I need to read more this year but thankfully I always have my sons bedtime stories to look forward to in the evenings too 🙂
I’ve never heard of this, but then I’m in the UK! 🙂 We read every night together, but I wish I had more time to read grown up things!
These are such wonderful ideas! I love to encourage reading in my kids daily and these are some fun ways to do it!
What a great way to get your family together for reading. It’s one of my goals to read more this year as well!
Ha! I will do anything to encourage my girls to read. This sounds like a fun way to read more.
I have never heard of Book Blitz month before but think it is a great idea. These are great ideas to get the Book Blitz going. I love the family challenge idea. Thanks for sharing.
I had no idea it was book blitz month! Its great since so many people get books for Christmas. Heck I got four and that reminds me I need to try and read a chapter tonight!
I have never heard of Book Blitz Month before, but it sounds like a lot of fun. I really like the idea of creating book themed days or weeks!
Very cool! I love reading books. You have placed great list of books, which could definitely encourage book lovers. The brilliant way to encourage my girls to reading books and make their own as well. Thanks for sharing the idea.
I read 3 books tonight…a Winnie the Pooh one, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and a book from Taiwan that my sister-in-law sent (she teaches the people there to speak English). Yep…pretty exciting stuff.
Hey, that’s still three books! The book from Taiwan sounds interesting. I always loved reading Pooh Bear.
Wow what a fun book! i love the story behind this, looks like it is great for kids! I love these kid friendly books with great pictures!
My new early reader adventure book for ages 2-8 is a great way to get kids excited about reading! Favorite feedback includes finding a hidden sight word in each illustration and coloring! http://www.amazon.com/PJs-Backyard-Adventures-Who-PJ/dp/0989282279/
this sounds like fun -thanks for sharing this
write a book together sound like fun