A Book on Every Bed: Amy Dickinson’s Proposal for Every Child

Posted on December 16, 2012 at 12:56 pm

It is a pleasure to once again endorse “Ask Amy‘s” program to encourage parents to share the love of reading by putting a book on every child’s bed so that the first thing they see when they wake up is a wonderful story. The holidays may be filled with things that beep and flash and connect to the internet, but it is a good time to remind children of the power of words. Some of my favorites:

The Secret Garden A fierce little girl with a new home in a mansion on the moors discovers a secret garden where more than flowers bloom.

The Phantom Tollbooth A boy goes on a journey to a mysterious land where two battling kings have lost touch with rhyme and reason.

Press Here Touch the yellow spot and you will find that imagination can transform even better then technology.

Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch A lonely man gets a mysterious letter with the message in the title. It changes the way he sees the world — and the way the world sees him.

Z Is for Moose This hilarious adventure through the alphabet has a surprisingly tender finale.

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Ask Amy’s ‘Book on Every Bed’ Project

Posted on December 12, 2010 at 8:00 am

Amy Dickenson has a wonderful idea for Christmas, “A Book on Every Bed.”

Take a book. Wrap it. Place it on a child’s bed so it’s the first thing she sees on Christmas morning (or whatever holiday you celebrate). That’s it.

I’m working with the Family Reading Partnership, a literacy organization in my home town of Ithaca, N.Y., to spread the word about the importance of reading with children.

A million stories: Our goal is for a million American children to wake up to a wrapped book on their beds.

This is not a fundraising appeal. This is not about buying books (the book you give can be passed down).

“A Book on Every Bed” is an appeal to spread the love of reading from parents to children. We also want to encourage families to share books by reading aloud.

Dickenson recalls her own love for Green Eggs and Ham and the life-long love for reading it inspired.
Reading Rockets has some good ideas to get you started. Long after the electronic gizmos and fads are forgotten, the gift of books and the learning and imagination they inspire will be a sustaining force in the lives of children. Start the tradition of waking up to a book on Christmas morning for the children in your home — and — why not — add books for the adults as well. Letting children see the people they love enjoying a book will be a gift to them as well.

Ask Amy’s Recommendation

Posted on March 17, 2010 at 11:46 am

I am thrilled and honored to be mentioned in today’s Ask Amy column. A parent wrote in about 9 and 10 year olds who had seen the very R-rated “The Hangover” multiple times. Amy Dickenson wisely suggested an honest and thoughtful response:

This presents a “teachable moment” for your kids and their friends. When other kids mention that they’ve been allowed to see or do something you don’t allow in your family, you can say, “Well, that’s an R-rated movie. R-rated means it’s really for grown-ups, not kids.”

I agree with you that “The Hangover” is highly inappropriate for children. I don’t know why parents aren’t more careful with the media their children consume, but your primary interest should be toward creating and maintaining the ethic and atmosphere in your own home. Nell Minow (“The Movie Mom”) is my favorite arbiter of what media are appropriate for kids. Her television and movie reviews can be found on blog.beliefnet.com/moviemom.

I agree with Amy that one of the most important lessons a parent can teach is that “everybody else is doing it” never works. Kids may struggle with limits — it is part of the job description for anyone who is in the process of growing up. But they respect our efforts to keep them safe. This “teachable moment” shows them more than what R-rated means. It shows them how we as adults make choices with integrity.

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Media Appearances Parenting

Ask Amy Recommends My Blog!

Posted on August 31, 2009 at 7:55 pm

The wonderful Amy Dickenson of Ask Amy was kind enough to recommend my blog as her favorite resource for checking out movies.

Minow smartly distills plots and rates films with kids and families in mind. In two minutes I learned that “BrÃ¼no” uses “very strong, vulgar language” along with “extremely graphic and explicit nudity (male and female).”

Let me take this opportunity to recommend Amy Dickenson’s heartwarming memoir of three generations of strong, wise women in her family, The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Mother, a Daughter, and the Town That Raised Them.

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Betty Asks Amy

Posted on August 22, 2009 at 3:59 pm

The wise and witty Amy Dickenson of “Ask Amy” gets a letter from a blonde named Betty who is distraught that her boyfriend of 67 years is going to marry her rival, Veronica!
Amy has some good advice:

I want you to hold your head up high, go to that wedding and tell yourself that you are better off without him.

At the wedding reception (I’m sure it will be held at the Riverdale Country Club), if you have a few too many appletinis and decide to tell off Veronica once and for all, and maybe dance a little too close with Reggie or Jughead, so be it! You’re a free woman, Betty, and now’s your chance to stand up for all the Bettys everywhere!

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Understanding Media and Pop Culture