How to Make Reading Family Fun!

Desira Stewart is a homeschooling mom of two daughters – Coretta, 11, and Vivian, 9 – and part of a family that loves the beach, sushi, being together, and reading. Drawing upon her professional background, which includes nonprofit management for youth programs centered on literacy and administering programs for underrepresented students at major colleges and universities, among other roles in education, Desira is a homeschooling powerhouse!

We recently chatted with her about her love of reading, how representation–and the lack thereof–played a part in her journey as a book lover, tips to make learning at home fun, and more.

Throughout the conversation, Desira recommends some of her favorite books, past and present. We link each title to our online shop. For the complete list, you can visit Desira’s Summer Picks, featured at the end of the article.

Q: Tell us about your homeschool journey.  How long have you been homeschooling your children? And what drew you to homeschooling? 

Desira: I would say I have been homeschooling for 11 years, which is as long as my oldest has been living because, as a homeschooler, it starts from the very beginning. But formally…let me say eight years. I've been homeschooling for quite a while.  It's hard to believe that people might consider me a veteran at this point. And I actually can't say that I was drawn to homeschooling as much as I can describe it as more so being LED…We didn't set out to home school. 

My husband and I are both former educators…. When we had our daughter, I stayed home and created an early learning center in our basement, and from there, we watched how she was just able to blossom and the beautiful time that we were able to have together. When it was time to consider sending her to school outside of the home during one of the school interviews, she turned to me and said, “Why can't I just stay home and learn with you?” Whether she realizes it or not, she's the reason she's been [schooled at home]. 

But really, it was a love, a desire to share who we are as a people, as a culture, and to share our faith. What I always share about our reason for ultimately deciding to homeschool is that we wanted to help develop our girls' character and a sense of who they are as beautiful, brilliant women of color and provide a foundation. So when they step into a traditional school or any setting, they have a firm foundation and sense of who they are and who God says they are.

Q: Now that summer is here, how does your approach to reading with your kids in the summer compare to the rest of the year?

Desira: Our girls have a deep love of reading, so during the school year, obviously, there are some works that they have to read based off of the curriculum that we're using. But, in large part, we have the flexibility to substitute some of that with the books that they really want to read, and so they still get a lot of free time to read during the school year as well as the summer. [There’s] a lot of individual time and also family reading time. That family reading time is something that I did not want to lose that we started very early with them because I find that it still continues to help with their development, with their understanding, and then also with our conversations. 

Q: So when you say family reading time, what does that look like for your family? 

Desira: Sometimes it is…everybody grab your own book and we meet in the family room and we'll put on some music and set a timer. It might be 30 minutes and we're just reading. And sometimes it could be a little bit more formal – even though they wouldn't want to admit it now in their older ages – but to get together on the sofa or to climb on the bed and get one book and popcorn read and everybody [takes turns] reading lines. Any way we can try to pull it together, [we do]... So we find ourselves reading, you know, maybe an online article together, or maybe sometimes a magazine. 

Q: That's really cool. So how much time do your children spend reading each day a week? Do you have a recommended amount of time kids should spend reading weekly? 

Desira: With our ladies, we'll read for close to two hours a day. They will read if we allow it, and they will read at meals. We will allow it sometimes for breakfast and lunch. And then they have their wind-down time reading, and then they wake up in the morning, and they read, and there's reading in the car. So over a day, I would, I would say, two hours. I recommend, though, a minimum of 30 minutes a day. For it to be realistic for families, not make it stressful, and to keep it enjoyable and attainable. Thirty minutes a day, together or independently, I think is a great number. As a child gets older, maybe it’s 45 minutes [a day]. 

Q: How do you help your daughters choose the books they're reading, and what part of the process do they play in selecting the books? 

Desira: They play a major part in selecting the books that they read. I will sometimes influence them if I know there's a particular piece of work I want them to be exposed to. I am more interested in their love for reading, and they'll read novels, they'll read nonfiction. They'll read all types of things, so I let them guide me. And then when I need to say, hey, we're going to read this book then, you know, then this is what we'll do. But they usually guide it for the most part. 

Q: So how do you have recommendations for parents? Ways that parents can make reading fun and enticing for, you know, reluctant readers? 

Desira: Read with your child, no matter the age, and share in the reading process. So not just sitting next to them and letting them read to you, but popcorn reading perhaps, whether that's alternating lines or alternating paragraphs if a reader gets overwhelmed by books with more words than pictures. Another tip I would offer is to let the child select the topics of interest and then find together or go to the library and have the librarian help to select books on that topic… In my opinion, it shouldn't matter necessarily if it's too easy. I don't know if things are ever too easy, and parents know their children best. You can get a range [of books] on that topic, so it might be more of a picture book or a concept book, depending on what it is, and then gradually getting into a different type of book, a longer book, but it's still within the same theme. 

One thing that worked well for me to get my children to love to read was associating some of our trips and outings with certain stories. So if I knew that there was something a place in the book that we could get to or something similar that I could show to relate to the book, I tried to incorporate that to give them something to look forward to. 

Finding books that have been made into a movie. One of our strategies, though we didn't have reluctant leaders, was ‘Let's read the book, and then we're going to make a movie night of it, and let's do a compare and contrast [between the book and the movie]. 

Then another tip that I would give parents of reluctant readers is to read the book or read together. And then again, tie it to something else. Such as if the character is cooking something or finding books where there's a recipe in the back. Finding books where topics are featured on websites or some kind of video that can go with it tends to get the reader more engaged. 

And the last thing that I would say is it’s OK for parents to do a little bit more of the reading to their children if they are reluctant because it just helps with vocabulary. It helps with spending time with books. And it shows that it's valuable and it's important. And then the encouragement along the way with the reading will continue to develop. 

Q: Why is representation in children's books important to you and your family, and what would you share with others about the value or importance of representation in diverse books? 

Desira: Growing up as a young person of color in the ‘80s, I can count on one hand children’s books that had any characters that looked like me on the front. I was a reluctant reader, and my mother was a teacher of English. [It wasn’t] because I didn't read well; there just wasn't anything I was interested in…I couldn't find the material that made me want to curl up with a book and read.

And so I think representation matters so much, because although we have the saying, ‘You can't judge a book by its cover.’ Still, for young people, that's exactly what can draw them to the book, the cover, the character, or the name…the use of another language on the cover. To say, ‘Oh, this is for you, too. Your story, your culture, your history, your background, your family, your experiences, all matter.’And that's what diverse books do. They also expose children to other people of the world, and other ways of thinking. My daughters have been exposed to so many things they would not have been exposed to in very positive ways because of the increased diversity of books that are now available. The main character [in a book they read] may be a young Asian American or not an American, so they can see that…another young person in another part of the world also knows what it feels like to be misunderstood by her mom. 

I think it opens up young people's conversations. I think it helps them to think beyond where they are. And I do believe that having books representative of all backgrounds adds to self-love in a way that is affirming and normalizes life and being who they are. And so, I always advocate for more diverse books and books that represent people, cultures, backgrounds, and ideologies. 

Q: What were some of your favorite books as a kid? 

Desira: When I was really young, I really loved the Martha and George series. I found them to be hilarious. I love them so much that I told my kids you gotta find Martha and George. I don't know if they found them as funny as I did.

Another favorite was A Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams. And it was so much of my favorite. My husband gave me a book shower for our first daughter, and the cake was made into that book.  And what I loved about that story was the way in which the family stuck together. I come from a very close-knit family where we're taught you are your brother's keeper…. It's just a beautiful story about intergenerational living and how something very simple changes the trajectory if you will, just the level of comfort and security that a family has behind the chair. I really love the story, and my girls enjoy that story as well. 

One of my favorites growing up was The Gold Cadillac by Mildred D. Taylor. My dad was a big Lincoln Town Car fan, so I could relate to their dad being excited about his new car. There are two girls [in the story], and I had a sister, so there were many parallels… The time setting was different, but the historical fiction was a way to bring in the time period [and] was able to help me to understand like the Green Book and what it meant for them to travel to the South, what it meant for an African American family to have a nice car, that it actually meant something and it could be dangerous. 

Q: Do you have any books you recommend for fun summer reading for kids? 

Desira: I do, and I also had to ask [my] two bookworms now that they pick many of their books.

So one of our favorites…is The Watsons Go to Birmingham – big fun, big adventure. Lots of sibling poking and joking, and I think kids will really get a good laugh out of it and learn because it's about them going to Birmingham. The backdrop is 1963, which was a tumultuous year in the civil rights movement. But the way Christopher Paul Curtis tells the story of his family and their trip, it's just a lot of fun, and there's a movie. Another one my girls like is the One Crazy Summer series by Rita Williams-Garcia. They really like that one.

One of my summer favorites that I would recommend is the series of Little Leaders, Little Legends, [and] Little Dreamers. I recommend that because we used to take a page a night as a family and read about one person. And the vocabulary varied, but we were there with our daughters. It was a way to learn, to gather, read together and then we would go on YouTube and find a quick video, especially if the person was an artist or a musician or something, and find a quick video or soundtrack to hear what we just read about. I think that's a very good one too, because it keeps the young reader excited [and thinking], ‘What are we going to read about tomorrow?’ 

My girls are into some graphic novels now and they really recommend Twins and Swim Team. My oldest daughter and I have been reading Betty Before X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson. I recommend anything by Renée Watson for the summer –i t will be a good read. Always fun, but always learning and thinking. I appreciate that about her writing.

The last [recommendation I’ll share] is Hip Hop Speaks to Children, which comes with a CD. And if the adult in the room is over 35, they will get it.  They're going to have a good time, too. There's a lot of music and poetry that they will know, and it is cool to share that with their young person. 

Q: And what about you? What are you currently reading or looking forward to reading this summer? 

Desira: I really wish I read as much as I wanted to read! I've recently discovered audio books because I can at least do that on my morning walks…. When I get to read, I’m reading newly published picture books and biographies. I'm actually writing one myself, and so it's important that I see what it is in the market, so I spend a lot of time reading new children's picture books. 

I am also currently reading Disruptive Thinking by TD Jakes. [The book explores how] we want to see change not only in our lives but in our communities and in our world, and how we have to be and how we have to change our way of thinking if we want to see change.

Q: You mentioned you were working on a book yourself. Can you tell us a little about that?

Desira: I have been working on a picture book biography about Vivian Malone Jones. Talk about disruptive thinking; she's definitely a disruptor! Vivian was one of the two students who desegregated the University of Alabama on June 11th of 1963, in the face of Governor George Wallace, standing in the schoolhouse doors to prohibit her enrollment along with fellow student James Hood. 

What was so significant about Vivian and her quiet courage was that although she was doing what she believed was right to do because she earned the right to attend that state university, her steps actually ended segregation in the United States. 

This is a book about going after your dreams, following what is in your heart to do in spite of the dangers and the obstacles. And without knowing it, you're changing the world, taking it one step at a time. I'm excited to tell Vivian's story of the giant and courageous person that she was. I'm currently in the editing phase and hope the book will be available within the next two years or so.

About Desira Stewart. Desira has a Master’s in College Student Personnel Administration and Bachelors's degree in communications, focusing on interpersonal communication within relationships. She built her expertise in nonprofit management, working with youth programs centered on literacy and administering programs for underrepresented students at major colleges and universities. She resides in Harford County, MD, with her husband and two daughters.