The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared

Great Gift for new parents or for Father's Day

This book is wonderful, readable, and compelling. The author talks about her years of reading every night with her librarian father (her mother leaves the family when she is quite young). This book is a reminder of how important it is for parents/grandparents to MAKE TIME to read to their children regularly, and to KEEP IT UP. It's a way of forging and keeping a relationship, developing real interests, and knowing what your kids are thinking. Nowadays parents give their kids hand-held games in preschool and leave them to entertain themselves. Later they wonder why their kids struggle with schoolwork and can't talk to grownups articulately.

5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Heartwarming Story of Father/Daughter Bonding

Quick and witty look at a father and a daughter bound together by their love of reading. The book is a serious of short segments from "the streak" which involved 3200+ nights of reading together. It proves the educational and emotional value of parents and children reading together.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

A good read

This was not as enthralling as I hoped it would be, but all in all, it was a good read. I really enjoyed the bond between father and daughter, despite teenage angst and drama. I still read to my 5th grader, maybe not every night, but most nights and enjoy it. This book helped me see that I don't have to give that up even when she gets older. Definitely worth the read.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Wonderful read

This book pulls at your heart from the start. It brings back memories of childhood reading bedtime stories with my parents as well as exposing and reminding us all of the problems with our school systems. It will make anyone feel like pounding on thir school boards door to bring back the joy of reading in our education standards. If every school administrator read this, our literacy ratings would increase dramatically across the country. A must read!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Mediocre

I loved the bond between father and daughter, for the simple reason that it is all too rare. I thought I would love this book; but it just wasn't exciting enough to keep me entertained. Not a bad book; just not a great book!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Simply doesn't deliver

Alice Ozma grew up in a book-lover's paradise, a bookish child with an elementary school librarian father enthusiastic about reading to her every, single evening, the two of them sharing lines they'd read, inside jokes about characters, etc. Before they began an official goal of reading together 100 nights in a row, they already came very near meeting that goal on a regular basis, skipping only a handful of nights. But making it an official gave them something firm to strive for, and once they'd achieved that it was time to set an even higher goal: reading for 1,000 nights.

The premise of the book is charming, and the relationship between Alice and her father a very close, endearing one. With a mother who'd run off from the family, and an older sister who seems more a shadow than a real person (which may just have been Alice's choice, to cut the family down to she and her father only), having her father to lean on was a comfort. As a bonus, she was the center of his world, the one person in his life he could say he influenced for the better, the father many of us dream of.

The problem with the book is after the first couple of chapters - in which Ozma describes her reading plan and its rules - the rest are unsatisfying, seemingly unconnected vignettes. As an adult, I found the reading had a few charming moments, as well as the poignancy of a child's perspective on a mother who abandoned her family, but the bulk of these stories were not at all compelling. It became a slog reading little bits about her family life, especially since the stories lacked much of anything in the way of talking about books - the purported intention of the book.

I was very disappointed in The Reading Promise, and felt the description of the book did not live up to the actuality. Had the vignettes and characters been more fully fleshed out, the writing of a higher calibre, perhaps I could have gotten beyond the promise unfulfilled. I would still have felt a bit cheated, but as it is I don't understand for whom, exactly, this book was written. It seems to be pitched at adults, but is it, really? In my opinion, no. It's written in too unsophisticated a style to hold the attention. Again, as a book for children maybe it would work, but even that's on thin ice.

I don't expect The Reading Promise will stand the test of time, and don't expect it to make the list of "Best Books About Books and Reading," which is most unfortunate, considering the intent Ozma had in writing it. The set-up was perfect: the precocious child who loves reading, paired with a father who loves sharing his love

1 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Excellent!

Everyone could learn something from this book considering we live in a Snooky/Kardashian/Housewives obsessed era.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Simply OK

This is a really cute story between a father and daughter but the book was ultimately not interesting. I think the streak itself is the most memorable thing involved and it is a bit gimmicky for my taste. I'd recommend using the library for this one if you can't find anything else to read as it's not worth buying.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

HI!!!!

Look i got this book in real life not on my nook this morning for v-day i am reading it now and its looking good!

By mable daze December,26 2012

Love this book that you said it was good and now im reading the book now!!!!! Love it soo much!!!!

Please read my comment!

I love how they are both telling how they remember how they did the reading Streak whitch is called different point of view.

Wonderful, bonding with children

I saw this book and thought, how wonderful, a father reading a marathon of books to his kids! I didnt realize how long it had gone on. Its wonderful. I started reading to my toddler afterreading this book. It iswonderful because technology will eventually wipe out all tge books. I have afull working library in my house and am very proud of it. Books teach children so much and should NEVER be replaced by technology

Read to your children!

When Alice was in fourth grade, she and her elementary-librarian father made a goal to read together for one hundred consecutive nights. That accomplished, they thought of a loftier goal-getting to one thousand nights; after that was achieved, they kept "The Streak" going just for the pleasure of it. Alice reminisces about some of the events which took place during those years, including when her mother moved out of the home, leaving Alice and her older sister in the care of their father, the day when her sister moved out of the family home for college, and the final night of The Streak, when Alice herself arrived at her college dormitory. As much a sweet tribute to her father as about the books themselves, the book moved slower than I would've liked. Each chapter is prefaced by a quote from one of the books which was read, and the book wraps up with a partial list of the many books that Alice's father read to her. As a librarian and the mother of an adult child, I commend the author and her father for sustaining this great project which they undertook. I hope that other parents will read this book and start their own streak.

Inspirational!

This book was very inspirational! The way that Alice Ozma puts this story together is amazing and it's hard to believe that she got this book published at the young age of 22, fresh out of college. Her literary advancement inspires me to read to my children the way her father read to her, because what she has learned shines through strongly and skillfully in this book! I would recommend it to any reader/writer!

A must read for anyone who has a child in their life

As a elementary school librarian, this book was one I could not resist. It did not disappoint! I empathized alternately with both Alice and her father. Especially when he was told he could no longer read to his students! That's tantamount to telling a children's librarian not to breathe! A must have for any children's literacy advocate, parent, teacher, or anyone who loves to read. It should be required reading for ALL school administrators and school board members (they're the ones who put the libraries (and/or qualified librarians) and arts on the chopping block when budget cuts need to be made).

Great Book, especially for Fathers or Daughters

I normally like my books hard-boiled, dark and dangerous. But as an avid reader, this book appealed to me. What a marvelous find! Well written and not a bit preachy. It's as much autobiography as a book about books. Her dad is a cross between the father in Calvin and Hobbes and the fathers in Jane Austen books. Funny, sweet, poignant and satisfying. Well worth the investment of your time.

Wonderful Writing!

Bluestalking (sic), I couldn't disagree more with your review. The writing was excellent and the vignettes were compelling and fit together seamlessly. I gulped down the entire book in one night and plan to re-read it and also buy a copy for our library. Please, other readers, give it a try. A warm and wonderful book.

A must read for ALL Adults who care about children and family

The Reading Promise is one of the best books I ever read. If you care about children, family, or education you must read this book. This book show us the importance of reading to our children and spending just a little special time with them is. Alice and her father are an inspiration to everyone. We need more teachers like Jim Brozina in our schools and more fathers like him in our home. Because then this country would be a much better place.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Nice read

Good one

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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