Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Scholastic and we may have received compensation and/or product for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We ALWAYS write from the heart friends.

Although I don’t get to do enough of it now, I have always enjoyed reading. I’ve tried to share that love with my kids from day one- my husband even used to read chemistry publications (he was in grad school) out loud when I was pregnant with my daughter.

The love of reading came naturally to her, she’s always sat still for books and seemed interested in pictures at a young age. She asks for more books at bedtime and has wanted us to use our finger to identify words for a long time now. She started kindergarten this year and it is absolutely amazing to see her read on her own. She’s picking up early reader books and flying right through them with ease. I’ve enjoyed every milestone she’s given us from walking to talking…but reading is where it’s at folks. I’m SO proud of her!

My son on the other hand, well…he’s our active child. As a baby it was so hard to get him to sit still and flip through a book. He’d rather chew on or throw them until just recently. Last year around Christmas time he became obsessed with Polar Express. It’s a long book for a 2 year old so we just made up our own story to the pictures, but he asks us to “read” it again and again. He’s almost 3 now and has shown interest in different books- all train, robot, car or truck related. I’m so happy he can sit through books now and actually enjoy them. I never thought he’d be brining me books to read in my lap, but he does it more and more everyday. It’s the BEST.

Something I wish we had access to when the kids were babies is Scholastic’s new The Story Starts Here site. Layla would listen to anything but Jack really needed books that were not only age appropriate, but things he was interested in. The Story Starts Here is a great resource for parents looking to find books in their child’s age range AND interest level. They also share great tips on how to engage your child and really create a love of reading early on. Scholastic’s hope with this new site is to ignite a love of reading for children that starts on day ONE.

The Story Starts Here also has resources for older kids! Their printables are fun and educational. I plan on visiting this site A LOT this winter when we are stuck inside- they have everything from coloring pages to crossword puzzles. Printables can also be sorted by categories like math, science, writing…etc. Of course, all the printables are separated by age appropriateness and are easy to download and print!

I think MY favorite part of the website is the reading lists, new book news and events, and an entire section dedicated to parenting books and reviews.

I hope reading never becomes boring to my kids. I hope they always pick up a book with a sense of wonder and imagination, ready to explore a new world. Scholastic sent us an amazing pack of books recently and we’ve discovered a couple of new favorites- If You’re A Robot and You Know It and Where’s Walrus? Where’s Penguin? 

Both books make my kids giggle- and THAT is a GREAT way to foster the love of reading! If You’re A Robot and You Know It is a cute pop up book that you can sing to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”. In the few weeks that we have had it, we’ve read it a million times and I have to mention- this pop up book is actually pretty durable! I normally shy away from pop ups but we haven’t had any trouble with wearing. You can watch a cute trailer for the book here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H4VtpqusYM.

Where’s Walrus? Where’s Penguin? is a really fun illustrated book with *gasp* NO WORDS. My kids looked at me when I was crazy when I told them we aren’t going to “read” it- we are going to make up our own story. But two pages in they were laughing so hard about that silly walrus and his penguin friend! We have a trailer for this one too: https://youtu.be/n0vdbXWHeu0.

The kids have really enjoyed these books and I’m happy to announce that you can win your very own copies, plus a few other titles in our Scholastic giveaway!! These books would make a great additional to your library and they come just in time for Christmas! 🙂

Please click below to enter by November 23rd:

We’d love to know how YOUR family fosters a love of reading? Use the tag #TheStoryStartsHere to share your tips!

PRIZING & SAMPLES COURTESY OF SCHOLASTIC.  GIVEAWAY ENDS AT 12 AM ON NOVEMBER 23rd, 2015. OPEN TO RESIDENTS OF THE US  ONLY. PRIZES CANNOT BE SHIPPED TO PO BOXES. WINNER WILL BE SELECTED BY RANDOM AND BE NOTIFIED BY EMAIL. WINNER HAVE 48 HOURS TO RESPOND BEFORE A NEW WINNER IS SELECTED. PLEASE NOTE THAT NAPTIME TALES IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR SPONSORS THAT DO NOT FULFILL THEIR PRIZES. I HAVE REPRESENTED EACH SPONSOR WITH THE EXPECTATION THEY WILL FULFILL THEIR PRIZE AND IN A TIMELY MANNER. I WILL CONTACT THE SPONSOR REGARDING YOUR PRIZE(S). THE SPONSORS, IN MOST CASES, ARE SHIPPING THEIR ITEMS TO YOU DIRECTLY. I WILL MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO ASSIST YOU OBTAINING YOUR PRIZE. IF THERE IS AN ISSUE WITH A SPONSOR, PLEASE NOTIFY THE BLOG YOU WON A PRIZE FROM WITHIN 30 DAYS FOR ASSISTANCE, AFTER THAT WE MAY BE UNABLE TO ASSIST YOU. THE PRODUCT PROVIDED FOR THE REVIEW WAS FREE OF CHARGE FROM THE COMPANY. THE PRODUCT OFFERED FOR THE GIVEAWAY IS FREE OF CHARGE, NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. MY OPINIONS ARE MY OWN AND WERE NOT INFLUENCED BY ANY FORM OF COMPENSATION. FACEBOOK, TWITTER AND GOOGLE+ ARE IN NO WAY ASSOCIATED WITH THIS GIVEAWAY. BY PROVIDING YOUR INFORMATION IN THIS FORM, YOU ARE PROVIDING YOUR INFORMATION TO ME AND ME ALONE. I DO NOT SHARE OR SELL INFORMATION AND WILL USE ANY INFORMATION ONLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONTACTING THE WINNER.