Family Reads
One of the most important actions parents can take for their children is to read to them, even throughout their teenage years. Students who dedicate time to reading frequently tend to excel in school, and families that prioritize reading together contribute to the development of lifelong readers.
What is Family Reads?
Family Reads is a book club held within your own home! It’s a great way to meaningfully engage with your family. You can initiate it at your convenience, placing emphasis on reading a book aloud collectively and engaging in discussions as the reading progresses. This year the book we are supporting is Front Desk, opens a new window by Kelly Yang.Â
Reading aloud to your school-aged children helps them develop a love of reading while strengthening family relationships. Â
More About Front Desk
Mia Tang thought life would be awesome once her family moved from China to the United States: Disneyland, hamburgers, and a house! But actually, life in the United States isn’t that great. However hard her parents work, they struggle to find and keep jobs. They can’t afford hamburgers every day. But their luck seems to change when Mr. Yao hires them to work at the Calivista Motel. And the job even comes with a place to live! But it turns out life at the Calivista isn’t easy. Mr. Yao is mean, greedy, and racist; the work is hard; and Mia is ashamed that her family doesn’t live in a house. But on the bright side, Mia loves working the front desk and gets along well with the long-term motel residents. She also makes a new friend, Lupe. And when Mr. Yao announces his plan to sell the Calivista, Mia, her parents, and all the people they’ve befriended work together to figure out how to keep their home and newfound family together.Â
For a list of discussion questions about the book, see our Discussion Guide, opens a new window.Â
About the Author
Kelly Yang is the author of Front Desk, which won the 2019 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature and was chosen a Best Book of the Year by multiple publications, including NPR, the Washington Post, and the New York Public Library. Kelly’s family immigrated to the United States from China when she was a young girl, and she grew up in California, in circumstances very similar to those of Mia Tang. She eventually left the motels and went to college at the age of thirteen, and is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Harvard Law School. She is the founder of the Kelly Yang Project, a leading writing and debating program for children in Asia and the United States. Her writing has been published in the South China Morning Post, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Atlantic.
To learn more about Kelly Yang and the Front Desk books, visit frontdeskthebook.com, opens a new window.
Tips for Running Family Reads
- Keep it fun
- Keep conversations light
- Read in your home language
- Keep to a schedule
- Don’t be afraid to be silly
- You’re never too old for a good picture book
- Keep sessions short
Remember:
Many children listen better when their hands are busy! Encourage the use of quiet fidgets, Play-Doh, drawing or colouring, eating a snack or building LEGO while you read to keep everyone engaged.
Events
Attend our Family Reads Events and join us for activities, crafts, stories and more! ​
Haven't started reading Front Desk, opens a new window? Come anyway.Â
Family Book Club Tie-in Events
Featured
Family Book Club - Booklists
Remember:
The more we read things we love, the more we want to read! Reading anything is great! Books can seem silly or easy. Books don't have to be serious or "literary" to foster meaningful interactions and help develop reading skills.
FAQs
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The best way to help your child develop strong language and reading skills is to talk and read to them in your home language. This will also help them learn English! Choose books in your home language or dual language books, which have text in both the home language and English. Then read together and talk about what you read. Use discussion questions to help start the conversation.
Here are materials in different languages to help you read together at home. Learn about our world language collections at epl.ca/world-languages.
Arabic
Books for Kids
Discussion Questions (use with any book)
العربية (Arabic) العربية (Arabic) français (French) français (French) español, castellano (Spanish) español, castellano (Spanish) Tagalog (Tagalog) Tagalog (Tagalog) -
There are Family Reads events being run at different branches around the city. Check out the events list to find an event close to you.
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No. Family Reads is designed for you and your family to attend what works for you! You can have read all, most, some, or none of the book to attend the events.
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No. Family Reads is designed for you and your family to attend what works for you! You can attend, all, most, some, or none of the tie-in events. We hope you will though! They are a lot of fun!
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