Sonoma County Office of Education

Raising Readers: Helpful Resources

Grandmother reads to baby The internet is full of great resources for parents, including: guides on how to get started, motivational programs, and awesome reading lists. The hard part isn't finding information — it's knowing how to sort out the most helpful information. This resource guide lists great websites vetted by SCOE's English language arts and early childhood education experts.



Download SCOE's family reading guide!
Cover of reading guide shows parent and child reading togetherEnglish: A Parent's Guide: Raising Readers


Cover of reading guide shows parent and child reading togetherEspañol: Una Guia Para Padres: Cultivando Lectores

Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets provides information about “teaching kids to read and helping those who struggle.” This organization hosts a website for Spanish-speaking parents (www.colorincolorado.org), which is also dedicated to helping children learn to read.

Sonoma County Library
Sonoma County Library has online resources to support reading, suggested reading lists for children, a calendar of children’s programs offered at the library branches throughout the county, and more.

Brightly
This site lets you search by age of your child, which can be very helpful. It will even give suggestions of books for you to read as an adult. There are also articles with tips and advice.

Common Sense Media
They also give recommendations for media such as movies, television and apps.

A Child Becomes a Reader: Proven Ideas for Parents from Research—Birth to Preschool and Kindergarten through Grade Three
This excellent, free, downloadable booklet offers age-appropriate advice for parents on how to support reading development at home and recognize preschool, primary school, and daycare activities that start children on the road to becoming readers.

Book Adventure
Book Adventure is a free reading motivation program for children in grades K-8. Children create their own book lists from recommended titles, take multiple-choice quizzes on the books they’ve read, and earn points and prizes for their literacy success.

Get Ready to Read
This site is dedicated to ensuring that all preschool children have the skills they need to learn to read when they enter school. This site has interactive online reading games, screening tools, early literacy skill-building activities, and parent resources.

National Education Association
The NEA has dedicated a section of its website to helping parents get involved in and improve their children’s education.

Recommended Literature List
The California Department of Education provides this searchable database of books for children and teens which helps students, teachers, and families find books that entertain, inform, and explore new ideas and experiences. Each book has a description called an "annotation" that explains what the book is about. The annotation can help someone decide if the title is interesting and appropriate to read.