If you're looking for inspiration in your efforts to introduce children to the riches of reading, Jennie Nash's book, Raising a Reader: A Mother's Tale of Desperation and Delight is a great place to start.

There's a narrative—Nash's unremitting campaign to turn her two daughters, Emily and Carlyn, into passionate, discerning, joyful readers. And at the end of each brief chapter, there's some kind of a practical suggestion related to the chapter itself—everything from book recommendations
for reluctant readers to ideas for setting up regular neighborhood book exchanges as a no-cost way of keeping a fresh flow of reading material moving through your children's hands.

Nash freely admits some of her own embarrassing parental missteps—such as the time she got so angry at Carlyn, then only 3, for tearing a page in a cherished copy of a Maurice Sendak book that she emptied Carlyn's bookshelf and locked all her books away for three days—and positively revels in her children's transformation into readers. As a result, the book is both moving and engaging.

And because Nash's children, and some of the other children who make brief appearances, cover a wide range of reading styles and abilities, it's easy to recognize your own young readers in the book. Nash finds a ready response to her own passionate love of books and reading in Carlyn, who also has a flair for the dramatic, and for whom reading is often also about performing. Emily is slow to read and, once reading, inclined to a quiet and private approach to reading—perhaps due to Carlyn's big-sister tendency to occupy the family spotlight.

Among the points Nash makes particularly well are the importance of having an abundance of books on hand (and low- or no-cost ways to achieve that abundance); the key role that parents play by reading aloud to their children in all kinds of settings; how even after children are independent readers, they still want to share the books that they love with their parents, and are often thrilled when a parent will
read a book at their suggestion.

Raising a Reader is published by St. Martin's Press.

See Johnny Read! The 5 Most Effective Ways to End Your Son's Reading Problems by educational consultant Tracey Wood is a different type of book entirely, written for a narrower audience: parents of boys who struggle to read. But, as Wood points out in her introduction, it's not such a narrow audience as all that: boys generally score lower on reading tests than girls, and make up the majority of the estimated 10 million U.S. students with reading difficulties. And of course, much of Wood's advice will apply to girls as well.

Wood does parents an important service in advising them to be wary of the "wait and see" advice that often comes from teachers in the earliest grades of school. While many public schools have it as a goal that children be reading with a fair degree of confidence by third grade, for children who really are struggling, third grade is very late to start with remedial reading help.

In the opening chapter, "Does Johnny Have a Problem?", Wood notes that 95 percent of children who struggle with reading will catch up—if they
receive intensive reading instruction before age 10. For children aged 10 or older, only 25 percent will catch up with their peers with the help of intensive reading instruction.

There's good practical advice for parents on how to recognize good reading instruction; how to encourage teachers to support a struggling reader; and how to gather up the confidence to challenge a teacher who doesn't see a problem when you do.

After offering a series of suggestions for getting classroom reading help for a struggling child, and then a look at some of the alternatives outside the classroom (learning centers, private tutors), Wood takes on a far more daunting task: offering detailed help with the job of becoming your son's reading tutor, should that become necessary...if, for instance, your school is not helping and you can't afford a private tutor.

These chapters will be critically important for some readers—but are far and away the least readable in what is overall a very approachable, useful book.

Finally, Wood rounds things out with chapters on homework and on what she calls "boy issues," the array of behaviors that land boys in more trouble, more often, in school, and that so often accompany reading problems or other learning difficulties.

On the homework front, she warns that struggling readers will need homework help just about every night of the week, especially in middle and high school; that a strictly enforced homework routine will make this easier; that parents aren't the only possible helpers—friends can also provide some good support. She says parents shouldn't be reluctant to ask for homework modifications when their child becomes overwhelmed, especially with complex writing assignments.

The "boy issues" chapters cover the need to avoid labels, and help boys feel good about themselves in school; Wood also explains some simple behavior modification strategies.

One of the aspects of this book I most valued was its focus on helpful, real-world suggestions: Wood acknowledges that there's a lot about school that is particularly difficult for boys with boundless physical energy; that there are a lot of overwhelmed teachers out there; that your son's reading problems may not be a top priority for anyone except you. Then she gives you solid advice on what to do about it in the real world, without alienating teachers, labeling your child, or spending more than your family can afford.

See Johnny Read! is published by McGraw-Hill.

Susan Phillips is the former executive editor of Connect for Kids.