If you’re wondering why some children grow up to become successful readers and possess a love for reading, the answer is simple. Their parents made a commitment to their reading development.

Children can begin a journey to reading success and enjoyment when parents commit to:

- reading to children as young as six months old. Begin reading when they are barely sitting up and their eyes are beginning to focus. Select simple, colorful board books and read them aloud with expression. Point to pictures, identify characters or animals and talk about the story.

According to recent research, there is a strong relationship between the amount of out-of-school reading a student engages in and his or her success in school in reading (Anderson, Fielding, & Wilson, 1988; Stanovich, 1986; Taylor, Frye, & Maruyama, 1990; Walberg & Tsai, 1984). This relationship reveals the importance of investigating why so few children choose to read outside-of-school. The purpose of this study was to investigate why some children choose to read out-of-school and others do not, focusing not only on factors that contribute to intermediate grade students' decisions to read, but also on the students' perspectives about these factors.

Affective and cognitive factors impacting reading attitudes are presented for teachers and principals, specific elements affecting reading attitude and consequent reading performance are delineated. Both negative and positive experiences impacting childrens' resultant feelings toward the reading act are discussed. Substantive items intended to prevent problems in reading attitude are described, including influences beyond the reader's control. Attributes, found to have had a high correlation with how children feel about reading, have been investigated. With the aspiration of assisting teachers and principals in immediately employing feasible solutions in their classrooms and schools, ten specific suggestions designed to promote positive reading attitudes in elementary school children ar presented.

Five-year-old Levi is listening to his teacher read Why Epossumondas Has No Hair on His Tail (Salley, 2004). This richly woven and engaging tale includes several unfamiliar words, like "lollygagging," "skedaddle," and "persimmon." It also contains phrases that Levi has never heard before, including "my sweet little pattootie" and "no sirree." Because the art and text so beautifully express the joy of eating a persimmon, Levi asks questions about the fruit once the teacher has finished the story. The next day, the teacher brings several persimmons to class.