Jason Boog's Blog: Born Reading

Our kids will grow up in a world completely surrounded by artificial intelligence. A.I.-driven algorithms already shape how our kids choose videos, shows, music, and movies on streaming services.

You can introduce your child to artificial intelligence with the freeTalk to Transformer site. You simply give this powerful A.I. model a piece of text–a favorite line from a kid’s book, for instance–and the A.I. will write something new that guesses what comes next.

Help your kid enter some text in...

Our kids will grow up in a world completely surrounded by artificial intelligence. A.I.-driven algorithms already shape how our kids choose videos, shows, music, and movies on streaming services.

You can introduce your child to artificial intelligence with the free Talk to Transformer site. You simply give this powerful A.I. model a piece of text–a favorite line from a kid’s book, for instance–and the A.I. will write something new that guesses what comes next.

Help your kid enter some text in...

Reading books doesn’t just change the kid. It changes parents too.

I’ve spent years talking about how reading books with kids can improve language and emotional development, but a brand new study out of Rutgers focused on how reading changes parents.

Read the whole study at this link:

“People who regularly read with their toddlers are less likely to engage in harsh parenting and the children are less likely to be hyperactive or disruptive, a Rutgers-led study finds.”

Published in the Journa...

When was the last time you visited an art supply store with a kid?Even though smartphones and tablets help kids make creative projects, it is important to keepreal life art around the house as well.

You can also tryCreative Galaxy, a kid’s TV show created by Amazon Studios.The show follows the adventures of an alien who flies between different planets, learning about different styles of art.

While watching, kids learn about action paintingandPointillism. But even better,the show always...

Reading a book to a child is a lot harder than it looks.

While writingBorn Reading: Bringing Up Bookworms in a Digital Age, all the expertstold me to be more interactive when reading. However, not all bookswill create an enthusiastic reading experience.

At the American Library Association annual conference, I had the awesome privilege to watch librarians around the country collaborate in a Guerilla Storytime. They gave me a HUGE list of print books that are guaranteed to make kids giggle,...

Born Reading is a work in progress.

InBorn Reading: Bringing Up Bookworms in a Digital Age, I share hundreds of books and apps that parents can use with kids. Now that the book is published, I still find great new apps and books every week.

To keep parents and kids informed, I launcheda free newsletter for parents. Follow the link below to subscribe for free book, eBook, app and craft recommendations every issue.

You can also follow these links to find more recommendations on this site:

Have you read a comic book with the kid in your life lately?

I’m heading to Comic-Con International with my daughter next week, and it is a good time to remind parents and caregivers: comic books can change a kid’s life.

I passed my childhood comic book collection on to my daughter recently, and we sit down with the Los Angeles Times funny pages every Sunday–my favorite part of the newspaper for the last 30 years.

While writing Born Reading, I interviewed New Yorker art editor Françoise Moul...

Did you ever dream of becoming a detective? My daughter and I have been readingNate the Great and the Crunchy Christmas by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and Craig Sharmat.We kept the experience going all weekend with more books, activities and detective apps.

This funny series features the adventures of a pancake-loving kid detective and his kooky friends. I always wanted to grow up to be a detective, and love watching my daughter discover her first mysteries. The ending of this book always makes...

How diverse is your child’s library? How diverse are the apps on your digital devices? I’ve collected some resources to help parents and caregivers build diverse digital libraries.

At the American Library Association’s annual conference, the “Promoting Cultural Competence in Digital Storytimes” session explored apps that parents can use to build a more diverse digital library. I’ve embedded the slides from that presentation below…

University of Alabama School of Library & Information Studies...

Have you triedPokémon Gowith the kid in your life?

I loved playing the popular app with my almost 6-year-old daughter. The game turns your real life neighborhood into a digital map filled with creatures to discover.

We walked around our neighborhood, photographed digital creatures in the bushes, captured Pokémonand met other kids playing the game.Best of all, we shared my smartphone for a couple hours–a truly rare experience.

Instead of criticizing kids for obsessing over apps like Pokémon...