Why mystery stories are a great choice for teaching children to read.
Teaching children to read can be one of the most rewarding activities a parent or grandparent takes part in. Helping a child develop a love for stories and reading through a classic children’s book series is fun, rewarding, and surprisingly easy!
Proven Approaches for Teaching Children to Read
We all know reading is good for kids. When books are made a part of daily life, a child’s language skills grow, they develop greater power of reasoning and creativity, and they learn to love reading.
When helping a child learn to read, there are certain methods and practices that consistently ensure success.
Reading Together Before Bedtime
Whether it’s rhyming books or mystery stories, reading together at the end of the day helps kids bring words to life. If the book you’re reading is from a mystery book series, you can have fun trying to solve the mystery as the plot progresses. Talk about the characters and ask your child, “What do you think will happen next?”
Introduce Books You Loved
Many of today’s parents and grandparents read The Happy Hollisters children’s mystery books when they were growing up. Children love to mimic the behavior of the adults in their lives. If they know you also read the books, it can create a wonderful bonding experience.
Choose Books They Can Relate To
All children enjoy seeing themselves reflected in a book’s characters. Many mystery books for children will feature children close to your own child’s age. In The Happy Hollisters mystery series for kids, the five child sleuths range from 4 to 12 years old. There is a character for everyone to relate to, which makes the books an ideal choice for children of all ages.
When Andrew E. Svenson began writing and publishing his youth mystery novels in 1953, he based most of the characters on real people, including his family. He also included two bullies, Joey Brill and Will Wilson, who constantly get in the way of the Hollister kids solving their latest mystery. There isn’t a child—or adult—who can’t relate to those two characters!
Best Mystery Books for Teaching Children to Read
One of the best reasons to use a mystery book series for teaching children to read is that it provides a diverse range of characters, themes, and adventures.
- Do you have a child who loves cowboys, cowgirls, and horses? The Happy Hollisters and the Cowboy Mystery finds the Hollister kids following a mystery trail on horseback. And as they work to solve the riddle at the Tumbling K Ranch, they learn not everyone is who they first appear to be!
- Can a grandfather clock really strike 13? What are those frightening cries coming from Mrs. Neeley’s old mansion? Kids whose imaginations are sparked by spooky stories about haunted houses will enjoy The Happy Hollisters and the Haunted House Mystery. As they cleverly hunt down the “ghosts” in the haunted house, they’re also introduced to a deaf boy, Charles, who exposes them to someone who seems “different” but turns out to be just like them.
- Does your family love to travel? Is a child in your life fascinated by tales from other countries? The Happy Hollisters and the Mystery of the Little Mermaid is the Hollisters’ first trip out of the country. While in Denmark, they trail a mysterious bearded man, cross paths with an international ring of thieves, and, of course, visit the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen.
Series books like The Happy Hollisters are also great teaching tools because once a child reads the first book, they tend to get hooked and want to read the rest of the series. When you gift the child in your life a book club membership, two new volumes are delivered every month to their front door, ensuring continued fun and reading opportunities.
If you want to use mystery novels to teach your child to read, The Happy Hollisters is a terrific series to do it with. At the Happy Hollisters’ Trading Post store you can purchase individual volumes, the complete 33-volume mystery book series or themed sets of 3-12 books. To learn more, contact The Happy Hollisters today.