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Book Adventure

Send your kids on a reading adventure for free

by Lee Seats
for About.com

Getting kids to enjoy reading can be difficult. It helps to have a little external motivation until kids figure out how rewarding reading really is. Book Adventure supplies that external motivation for free.

What is Book Adventure?

Book Adventure is a nonprofit organization that is sponsored by Sylvan Learning Centers, Barnesandnoble.com, Houghton Mifflin, and others. Kids in grades K-8 can earn points by reading books and taking quizzes. They list over 5,000 titles and have quizzes for every one of them.

How to Register

Parents can register and have their kids provide the parent's email address when they register. Teachers can create a class name for kids to list when they register. Parents or teachers can then monitor the kids progress and approve prizes.

Prizes and Quizzes

Prizes are provided by generous companies and every kid can win something since there are activities that can be be "purchased" for zero to 75 points. The quizzes are well written and do a good job of both measuring comprehension and encouraging kids to improve their comprehension. Kids can take a quiz on a book a second time. After the second time they cannot take the same quiz again. Kids earn points when they score over sixty percent on a quiz.

Getting the Books

Book Adventure does not have the books online, so your kids will need to read the old fashioned way -- with a real book. Actually, some of the classics and fairy tales can be found online if you look for them. Kids can find most of the books on the list at the library. You can also purchase books for your kids if you can afford them. If you have limited funds, you may want to check around for local RIF (Reading is Fundamental) programs and get some books for free.

Lasting Advantages

Book Adventure is a great free program that has a lot of potential to help build kids' love of reading and their reading skills. Being a good reader and enjoying reading will help your kids do well in school and become lifelong learners. Not a bad deal for free!

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