All About Bookadventure.org

by Valorie Delp | More from this Blogger

18 Jan 2007 11:23 AM

This month, I had said I was going to devote blogs to literacy. . .and then new stories happened, and movies about great educators came up, and well. . .I forgot. But I was recently reminded to pick it up again and so I decided to devote my first blog on literacy to my favorite incentive offering reading site: bookadventure.org

How It Works

Your child's teacher (or you) sign up for an account and then children sign up for their own accounts under their teacher's (or your name). They read books and take quizzes. They have to get a certain number of questions right. . .and then they earn points. The points can go towards a variety of prizes. We have won chocolate bars, temporary tatoos, bookmarks and other cool things.

Parents can approve or disapprove a particular prize and even set up their own incentives for reading. I especially like this feature because it allows me to set up "lesser rewards" so that my little ones are rewarded for their reading immediately rather than having to wait until they accumulate enough points.

The Down Side

This site has been criticized because rather than kids reading for pure enjoyment, they're reading to answer a quiz. While I certainly see the point my response is: 'who cares?' The more kids are exposed to good books, the more they read. Very often reading one good book has the affect of leading to another book by the same author. Furthermore, while reading purely for a reward may not be the most character building activity in the world, reading just about anything definitely does improve reading skills.

The other down side of course is that you can only earn points if the system has a quiz for that particular book. My daughter and I have been doing this for about a year and so far there's only been two books that have not been in the system and she's read well over 100 titles! Needless to say, the site is fairly comprehensive. One thing that we do is have the kids pick their books without knowing whether or not the titles are actually in the system. So they don't earn points on everything they read. . .but they're okay with that.

Searching

You can also search the system via book lists, title, author, keywords or ISBN number, as well as input your preferences and get a list of suggestions. The site also allows you to track your child's progress. In addition, books have listed their reading level so it's easy to tell where your child is at.

This is definitely a fun idea and a great way to get your kids to read more. Oh--and did I mention it's all FREE? You can't beat that!

Related Articles:

Literacy Series: Statistics on Literacy

For Love of Literacy

Early Literacy Experiences

Comic Strips About Literacy

Learn more about Valorie Delp

Hello everybody! My name is Valorie and I am one busy lady! When I'm not writing or editing for families, I am busy trying to get my brood of 5 in line.

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Heather Long (16954) 18 Jan 2007 10:38 AM

Valorie, this is really cool. I may have to mention this to my sister-in-law, we have such a hard time encouraging my nephew to read because he -- like so many of this generation -- likes to do things to earn points or scores and this could be a great way to get him to compete with himself and encourage him to read at the same time. Thanks for the tip.

Aerie (309) 18 Jan 2007 10:41 AM

My children love to read, so this website boggles their mind. "I get to read, and they give me stuff for doing it!!?" :-) It's a great way to encourage reading comprehension. My children have earned games and candy bar coupons from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

Valorie Delp (49340) 18 Jan 2007 12:02 PM

Yep! My kids feel the same way. (The ones who read at least.) I mostly do my own rewards so that they can be immediate. It takes the "free" out of it but what fun is it to get a Rocky Mountian Chocolate Factory Chocolate Bar if you can't use if for two months because it's too far away. I do a lot of McDonald's ice cream--which is right down the block! ;-)