The Book Nook Do You Have a Book Nook? Is there a place in your home where a child can hide out with a book? No, I donât mean with a flashlight under his blanket in bed. Itâs a more permanent small space that is dedicated to books and reading. The corner of a more quiet room would be the simplest space. A book shelf, some pillows, a blanket, crayons, markers and good lighting should do the trick. It should be adaptable to hold two or three people for those times when you are going to read to more than one child at a time. Itâs also not a bad idea if the book nook is fronted by a big comfy chair, a loveseat or some other piece of furniture that provides some privacy and a place for an adult to pull a child up on his or her lap to read to them. Book Variety is Great The books should have lots of variety. I watch my 5 year old grandson, Sam, search for objects in puzzle books for more than an hour. He can while away an hour searching the various pages of a âWhereâs Waldoâ book. He canât read yet, but as we know, all books are not for reading. Kids are just as fond of sticker books and coloring books and those in which you have to punch out the pieces and put them together to make a pirate ship or a castle. Atlases and gazetteers, old copies of National Geographic, and a few with art and sculpture work well along with a few books of cartoons & some comic books. We all have different preferences. Sometimes it is a good idea to have a selection of books that have been made into childrenâs movies. Iâve watched our grandchildren turn the pages and recount the entire story of a movie theyâve seen, often stopping to fill in details that the movie provided and the books did not. It’s a Great DIY Project Building a book nook does not have to be expensive. Yard sales are flush with hampers of good, pre-loved books that some other child has grown out of. Second hand stores and used book stores add a lot to the variety. As much as possible, take the kids on these treasure hunts with you. As you might expect, they will have a lot more interest in a book which they chose for themselves. Nook Book Idea! Here’s a wonderful example of a closet turned into a book nook from the Thrifty Decor Chick. Reading a bedtime story is a wonderful practice in any home. It helps to settle the kids. It signifies that quiet time is at hand and it makes the transition from playing hard to sleeping well a bit easier. But reading should not be relegated to what we do just before we kiss them goodnight. It should be something that is more easily available. For older children, the book nook also becomes a place just to go to get away from it all. Their lives can get rather busy. Their schedules often look like something from the day planner of a rising executive. They sometimes just need a place to chill and unwind that does not have a video controller attached to it. The book nook becomes a safe haven; a place to read, or not, but a place that is familiar and quiet.
