silent reading works! it does! i always thought that was a damn silly thing for schools to have - children who are readers would read at home anyway, and those who aren't are usually just pretending to read and the time really would be better spent teaching children something. also if you let people read in school and then tell them "put away your books, it's time for geometry" just when they'd got to the good part they'd never pay any attention. when i was in primary school i kept getting in trouble for reading under the desk.

but sarah, who never seemed to be a reading child before - at least when she's home she's either watching tv or doing something scarily advanced and sciencey - if she does read she reads non-fiction science books - now seems to enjoy fiction!

they don't really have a good book collection at home - so before sarah goes to school she comes over and chooses something out of our library cupboard for her silent reading period. and when that book is finished (usually over the course of the week) she comes back and gets another. enid blyton and beverly cleary mainly, and she's very enthusiastic about it - and really seems to be reading. i think, su-lin, she has made off with your five findouters collection (the four-in-one) but i promise i'll make her bring it back.

when she was four i was amazed because i thought she could read then - but it turned out she has a impressive memory and can recite anything off - so that when i thought she was reading (because she got every word on the page and turned over at the right place) she was just reciting from memory and turning the pages was part of that performance!!

one other amusing incident - she stopped by on her way to school one day to get a book - and my parents were out! oh no! lau ku is not there! no book! teacher scold! so they rushed into their house next door and there was no suitable book! and they seized on the only thing that would do - the bible! so off she went to school that day - i wonder if they all thought she was an extremely pious child.

anyway my dad now keeps a small stack of books in the porch for her in case this happens again.