For this month's column, we had a very fun and engaging book discussion with Gavin Eckerman of Monroe. Gavin, a fifth-grader at Northside Elemen-tary, is a voracious reader and never leaves the library without a huge bag of books - a practice begun when he was just a toddler.
"I used to put all of the books in Mom's bag, but now I have my own because I check out so many," says Gavin. "Usually, my mom has to carry it because it's so heavy. I can barely lift it."
Reading is a regular family activity for the Eckermans. In addition to their frequent library visits, Gavin and his younger sister Addy enjoy having story time with their parents at night before bedtime and classics and other stories read to them during long car rides. As Gavin's mom Jennifer attests, "The best way to make your child into a reader is to read to them." Gavin also enjoys reading to Addy.
Gavin's enthusiasm for reading proves this adage to be true. In fact, for Northside's Summer Reading Challenge this year, he set a personal goal to exceed the 2,400 minutes of the program's highest level and read 5,000 minutes. He met his goal before the end of July - and finished summer break with a whopping 8,160 minutes (or 136 hours).
When he has time to read after school or during the summer, Gavin retreats to the family room, where "I just plop down in this one spot on the couch," he says. "There's a coffee table right next to it and it's covered up with all different kinds of open books." Gavin also has a special place in his bedroom devoted to his book collection. "Our grandpa built a desk that has a bookshelf on the side. It has three shelves and it's overflowing."
To find new books to read, Gavin checks out Goodreads, gets recommendations from family and friends, or goes to the library where, he says, "I just look for different series that I like and look in that section to see if there's any more in that series or books like it." Often, he'll go on the Linkcat library catalog to request new books. "The day that Mom got your email about the Cover to Cover interview, 16 books had just come in for me. Mom asked me how many books I requested, and I said about a million," he laughs.
Some of Gavin's favorite titles include the Harry Potter series - he's currently re-reading "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," "Wonder" by R.J. Palacio, "Holes" by Louis Sachar, the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series by Jeff Kinney, the "Big Nate" series by Lincoln Peirce, and the "Indian in the Cupboard" series by Lynne Reid Banks, as well as Calvin and Hobbes and Garfield cartoon books.
Gavin wants to be an architect when he grows up ("or maybe manager for the Green Bay Packers"), so he knows that being a good reader is important. Reading also feeds his curiosity. Says Jennifer, "if there's a random science or math topic that he asks a question about, he usually ends up checking out books on it."
It's clear that while Gavin's reading life is in its early stages, it's already amazingly full.
Asked "if you were given one hour at a book store to get all of the books that you wanted, how many would you pick out?" Without hesitation, Gavin says, "A lot. We'll need a dump truck."
- Cover to Cover is provided by the Monroe Public Library and is published the fourth Wednesday of the month.
"I used to put all of the books in Mom's bag, but now I have my own because I check out so many," says Gavin. "Usually, my mom has to carry it because it's so heavy. I can barely lift it."
Reading is a regular family activity for the Eckermans. In addition to their frequent library visits, Gavin and his younger sister Addy enjoy having story time with their parents at night before bedtime and classics and other stories read to them during long car rides. As Gavin's mom Jennifer attests, "The best way to make your child into a reader is to read to them." Gavin also enjoys reading to Addy.
Gavin's enthusiasm for reading proves this adage to be true. In fact, for Northside's Summer Reading Challenge this year, he set a personal goal to exceed the 2,400 minutes of the program's highest level and read 5,000 minutes. He met his goal before the end of July - and finished summer break with a whopping 8,160 minutes (or 136 hours).
When he has time to read after school or during the summer, Gavin retreats to the family room, where "I just plop down in this one spot on the couch," he says. "There's a coffee table right next to it and it's covered up with all different kinds of open books." Gavin also has a special place in his bedroom devoted to his book collection. "Our grandpa built a desk that has a bookshelf on the side. It has three shelves and it's overflowing."
To find new books to read, Gavin checks out Goodreads, gets recommendations from family and friends, or goes to the library where, he says, "I just look for different series that I like and look in that section to see if there's any more in that series or books like it." Often, he'll go on the Linkcat library catalog to request new books. "The day that Mom got your email about the Cover to Cover interview, 16 books had just come in for me. Mom asked me how many books I requested, and I said about a million," he laughs.
Some of Gavin's favorite titles include the Harry Potter series - he's currently re-reading "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," "Wonder" by R.J. Palacio, "Holes" by Louis Sachar, the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series by Jeff Kinney, the "Big Nate" series by Lincoln Peirce, and the "Indian in the Cupboard" series by Lynne Reid Banks, as well as Calvin and Hobbes and Garfield cartoon books.
Gavin wants to be an architect when he grows up ("or maybe manager for the Green Bay Packers"), so he knows that being a good reader is important. Reading also feeds his curiosity. Says Jennifer, "if there's a random science or math topic that he asks a question about, he usually ends up checking out books on it."
It's clear that while Gavin's reading life is in its early stages, it's already amazingly full.
Asked "if you were given one hour at a book store to get all of the books that you wanted, how many would you pick out?" Without hesitation, Gavin says, "A lot. We'll need a dump truck."
- Cover to Cover is provided by the Monroe Public Library and is published the fourth Wednesday of the month.