Reading Supports the Development of a Creative Mind!

Reading requires imagination and can inspire creativity.

I was a lucky kid: my mom was a children’s book author and illustrator and I grew up surrounded by books. For years, my mom and I had a weekly date at the library. I’d always check out the maximum number of books and couldn’t wait to get home to start reading. I loved everything, but my favorite stories were the really scary ones.

Not too much has changed over the years; I still have a stack of books on my bedside table and I still love learning about all sorts of things just by lying still and reading.

When I started playing the guitar at the age of nine, I realized that the only thing more fun than reading stories is inventing my own stories and songs.

These days, it seems like kids are spending a lot more time watching TV and videos and not as much time reading. My new album, The Bossy E, is a celebration of the joys of reading, writing and using your imagination. I want other kids to get the same thrill that I’ve always gotten from getting lost in someone else’s stories and from using your imagination to create your own stories.

Like anything worth doing in life, learning to read or write takes some effort. My featured video this month is for the title track of the CD, meant to make it easier for kids to learn how to spell…while having fun at the same time.

Do you know the Bossy E grammar rule?  Check out these long vowel Bossy E worksheets and teaching resources at bogglesworldesl.com.

(photo credit: John Morgan)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mister G (Ben Gundersheimer) is an Amherst College graduate who spent 20 years as a singer/songwriter/producer in the adult music world prior to earning a Masters in Elementary Education at Smith College and transitioning to making music for children.  His most recent release, CHOCOLALALA, a collection of original, bilingual (Spanish/English) songs for children, won a Parents’ Choice Gold Award and is on the Grammy ballot for Best Children’s Album of 2012. A leading figure in the kids music world, Mister G’s 2011 bilingual release, BUGS garnered numerous national awards and was dubbed “irresistible” by People magazine. www.mistergsongs.com

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