A Child's Own Book File

 

            Here's a fun way to support a child's reading. It's a box that will hold an index card with information about every book that your child has read. This make a good gift and might be a good project for a Scout group or church youth group to make and sell to raise money for a good cause. It's also something fun that a parent or grandparent could make with a child, and enjoy watching it fill up over the weeks and months.

 

            All you need is a recipe box and cards for inside. You can redecorate an old recipe box, or buy a new, acrylic one in a pretty color, and hot-glue decorations such as ribbon and buttons on it. The child can letter a nameplate: "Ashley's Book File" or whatever he or she would like, and glue that on.

 

            You can use standard index cards, and write the categories on the blank lines:

 

            Title:

 

            Author:

 

            Illustrator:

 

            Date Published:

 

            Number of Pages:

 

            Description:

 

            What I Liked About This Book:

 

            The child can write a sentence or two about the plot and characters, and start a little literary analysis with the "what I liked" section.

 

            Now help the child come up with categories for index divider cards in order to file the cards: adventure, animals, biography, comedy, detective, history, sports . . . the sky's the limit.

 

            Each time the child finishes a library book, he or she can make a new card. Won't it be fun to watch that file fill up! You could even set up prizes for every 10 books read, or every 1,000 pages, or whatever would be meaningful and encouraging to your child.