Should Kids Keep a Reading Log?

Books Make Me Happy! What a positive presupposition! Indeed, this is what we want for our kids, that books make them happy. (And sad. And curious. And thoughtful.) Of all the reading logs, this choice is the best suited for young readers so they can savor their favorite books.

Assigned Reading Logs

Bluck. I very much dislike reading logs from school — you know, those meaningless recordings of how many minutes and or pages a child reads each night. While they might be a way to hold kids accountable for nightly reading, these absolutely kill the joy of reading. Have you seen this with your own kids?

If your school requires this — ask for modifications. See if you can just sign that your child read for the assigned number of minutes or pages. The goal of the assignment is to make sure your child is reading nightly so you can achieve this goal without doing those mind-numbing logs.

Here is a sample email you can send to your child’s teacher written by educator and author, Pernille Ripp and her reasons against reading logs.

Personal Reading Logs

That being said, I love keeping my reading logs. It helps me remember what books I’ve read, and it reminds me what books and authors I want to recommend to other people. I mostly use Goodreads for this, although I have dabbled with notebooks of various kinds.

My kids, too.

Now my kids both generally use Goodreads to keep track of their reading but when they were younger, they had a fantastic personal reading log — Books Make Me Happy by Judy Pelikan. This little book is filled with embroidered images (LOVE!) and places for writing favorite books, favorite parts, why you’d recommend it to a friend, and drawings.

In addition, pages of other questions intersperse the book pages — questions about your reading habits, the favorite books of other people in your life, and so forth.

So when your kids get into a reading slump, see if giving them a fun, kid-friendly reading log and see if that helps make reading fun again.

And don’t worry about spelling or the content of their reading log answers. Keep it light-hearted and fun!

AND IF THEY DON’T WANT TO– SKIP IT!

Other Reading Logs

Books Make Me Happy appeals to younger readers. If you have an older reader and want a hard-bound book try:

Reading Journal for Kids from Imagination Soup
Wide ruled lines, prompts, fun and cute characters, and lots of ways to think deeply about books, this is a must-own reading journal!

Book Worm Reading Log for Kids
We have this log, but neither child has tried it. Would it work for one of yours?

Book’s I’ve Read: A Reader’s Journal
I have something just like this, but I keep misplacing it! Hence my use of technology.

Reading Log
Kid-friendly graphics on the exterior with an interior filled with pages to record your books read, reviews, quotes, and ratings.

Reading Journal for Book Lovers
This is best suited for older readers as it offers a 2-page spread for each book plus other fun pages for quotes, favorite authors, favorite genres, and more.