Non-Fiction: Raising Confident Readers by J. Richard Gentry

Did you know that four out of ten American children eight-years-old can’t read on their own? It’s not because they aren’t being taught, but rather because they aren’t being exposed to books and reading during their formative periods. Childhood literacy expertly J. Richard Gentry would change all of that.

“Confident readers are not born,” Gentry writes in his introduction to Raising Confident Readers (Lifelong Books), “but they can be made -- naturally, lovingly, and joyfully -- by a child’s first reading teacher: you.

Gentry’s book is clear, loving, lucid and simple to use. If you have a very young child at home or are expecting one in the future, read Raising Confident Readers: How to Teach Your Child to Read and Write -- from Baby to Age 7. Anyone could follow Gentry's gentle program. And everyone should. ◊

Sienna Powers is a transplanted Calgarian who lives and works in Vancouver, B.C. She is a writer and conceptual artist.