‘Born Reading’ by Jason Boog

Every parent wants to give his or her child a competitive advantage. In “Born Reading,” publishing insider (and new dad) Jason Boog explains how that can be as simple as opening a book. Studies have shown that interactive reading, a method that creates dialogue as you read together, can raise a child’s IQ by more than six points. In fact, interactive reading can have just as much of a determining factor on a child’s IQ as vitamins and a healthy diet. But there’s no book that takes the cutting-edge research on interactive reading and shows parents, teachers, and librarians how to apply it to their day-to-day lives with kids, until now.

Lots of parenting books claim that parents SHOULD do this and SHOULD do that. Jason Boog’s book presents recommendations from pediatricians, teachers, and librarians but also presents his own experiences raising his daughter, Olive, and makes no claims that this is the ONLY way to raise a child. He encourages parents to find a balance that works for them, especially in regards to books versus apps, and that no one format is better than another — instead, it is how parents use them.

Boog presents his 15 tips to help your child develop their reading right in his introduction. That “playbook” provides the framework for the rest of the book, which follows a timeline from before birth to kindergarten and beyond. Each chapter provides age-appropriate book and app recommendations, as well as feedback as to how Olive (and Boog himself) responded to those tools.

Like pretty much anyone raising a child in this highly-technological world, I question how much time my daughter should spend with a portable screen in her hands. I also question whether some apps are better than others, just as some books may be better than others. Boog has great suggestions and ideas, as well as encouragement that a balance can be reached.

For parents who are looking for new ideas to work with their children and improve (or create) good reading habits, this book gives many tips and tricks, experiences, and title recommendations of both books and apps. If parents are born readers themselves, there may be little new information, but there is plenty of reassurance to be found.

Many of the titles recommended by Boog can be found in the Hays Public Library‘s Children’s Department. Contact us at (785) 625-9014 to learn more.

Marleah Augustine is Adult Department Librarian at the Hays Public Library.

“The Equalizer” is a gritty, violent action-thriller that reunites “Training Day” alums Denzel Washington and director Antoine Fuqua, which follows a quiet man with a mysterious past who is thrust into a private war against Russian crime lords. As per usual, Washington delivers an intense, easy-to-like performance that is both amicable and somehow threatening; and Fuqua delivers a well-crafted action scenes with above average inventiveness set against passable dramatic heft.

While the main plot may be unoriginal, it is executed surprisingly well. The sub-plots and character-specific idiosyncrasies are engaging and add to the overall experience. Thankfully, “The Equalizer” avoids many of the easy-to-hate action-thriller tropes such as a villain asking the protagonist the question, “Who are you?” and the hero responding with the name of the movie, i.e., “I’m the Equalizer.” That line is notably and pleasingly absent.

Luckily, the good and bad parts of “The Equalizer” are not mathematically equal. The film gets right more than it gets wrong and therefore, smaller sins such as terrible henchmen facial hair can be more easily forgiven.

I wouldn’t go so far as to urge readers to run out and catch “The Equalizer” at their earliest opportunity. However, it’s a well-made action flick that, at very worst, is the kind of film that group could confidentially select when “action-thriller” is the theme of movie night, with little fear of disappointment from any individual member.

4 of 6 stars