Read

School is out, but reading is in! Use the relaxing weeks of summer to build your children's reading skills through ordinary TTC and not-so-ordinary ways. Check out these fun-filled activities and choose several that fit your children's reading level for rewarding experiences all summer long.* Visit your local library, get library cards and make regular visits part of your summer routine. Let your children choose books to check out. At home, designate an easy-to-reach shelf or basket for the borrowed materials.

On January 9, 2005, ELIZABETH (nee Paulk), beloved wife of the late Ernest J. Read Jr.; devoted mother of Sandra R. Hay and her husband Conran, Ernest J. Read III and his wife Lisa; also survived by four grandchildren. Friends may call at the Sterling-Ashton-Schwab Funeral Home Inc., 736 Edmondson Ave (1/2 mile W of Beltway exit 14) on Friday from 7 to 9 P.M. Further visitation will be held at Our Lady of the Angels Chapel, Charlestown, on Saturday from 10 to 11 A.M., at which time Services will be held.

Roger Angell's "Season Ticket" and Tom Clancy's "Without Remorse." I had to read Clancy because he's an owner here, and I work here.-- Harry Beninghoff, tour guideat Camden Yards."

Come hear author Tina McElroy Ansa read from her third novel, "The Hand I Fan With."Ansa combines rich spirituality and vivid eroticism in her tale of Lena McPherson, a middle-aged black woman who is financially successful and socially prominent but finds true fulfillment in her love affair with a ghost.In her first book, "Baby of the Family," Ansa introduced the psychic Lena and the fictional town of Mulberry, Ga., near Ansa's real-life birthplace, Macon.After graduating from Spelman College, Ansa became the first black woman to work at the Atlanta Constitution before embarking on her career as one of the most prominent writers of contemporary African-American fiction.

Summertime is travel time, and even the shortest car trips can seem long to children. Here are some things to do that will help pass the time -- and help your children develop reading and writing skills.* Most children are natural collectors of things, as you find out by what's in their pockets on wash day. On trips, encourage your child to collect things -- rocks, leaves, feathers. Have her write information about the object on a 3 by 5 card: what it is, where and when it was found, what it's used for. When you return home, your child can set up a museum display of the items collected on the trip.

FINALLY, SOME good news for aging baby boomers. No, Congress hasn't sorted out the Social Security mess or figured out a way to lower prescription drug prices. But a handful of book publishers have begun printing larger-type editions of works by some of their best-known authors. The New York Times reports that the Penguin group, Simon & Schuster and Harlequin Enterprises are marketing the new versions in hopes of stemming the decline in the sale of mass-market paperbacks. Those are the small-format, generally nonliterary fiction paperbacks that account for most of the books sold today.

Books can help your child to know you. If a book makes you feel good -- or sad -- or mad -- take it home to your child and read it to her.-- Valerie & Walter's Best Books for Children by Valerie V. Lewis and Walter M. MayesPub Date: 05/09/99

Scholastic publications is launching a read-aloud campaign in conjunction with Rosemary Wells' newest book, "Read to Your Bunny" (1997, $7.95). This short, charming and enchantingly illustrated poem conveys a simple yet vital message - read to your child and your child will read to you."Reading together 20 minutes a day is the most important gift you can give your child," Wells says. "More board books based on this same concept using children's favorite nursery rhymes will follow."Susan Rapp,Village Reading Center!

When encouraging children to read, parents and care-givers should:* Start with picture books and build to story books and novels.* Vary the length and subject matter of your readings.* Follow through with your reading. If you start a book, it is your responsibility to continue it - unless it turns out to be a bad book. Don't leave your child hanging for three or four days between chapters and expect his or her interest to be sustained.* Occasionally read above your child's intellectual level and challenge her mind.

Former President Jimmy Carter recalls how his love of reading was nurtured for Sun staff writer John Rivera:"Well, I had an inspirational teacher whose name was Miss Julia Coleman. I quoted her in my inaugural address, by the way. We were a little tiny country school. She pushed us hard, no matter if we were bright or not. She would play classical music on a little scratchy phonograph and we had to learn how to identify Bach or Brahms or Rachmaninoff. She had a list of books, beginning very simply and going into more advanced reading.