Whether your child is just starting nursery school or a couple years away from high school, promoting books and reading skills is extremely important. But not every child enjoys reading and welcomes the activity. Today, Parents Ask literacy expert Pam Allyn shares 10 Tips for Parents to Help Make Reading Enjoyable:

1. Tailor book selections to topics of interest to your child (i.e., if she loves trucks, load your library bag with truck books!)

2. Slow down, give reading options that are technically easier for your child – allowing frequent opportunities for success.

3. Try magazines and browsing books – your child can pick these up and put them down without having to commit to a whole novel’s worth of reading

4. Take turns reading with your child – if he or she doesn’t have to be responsible for reading every page, or every book, the reading experience will be less isolating.

5. Talk with your child about the books you read together. Find out what he or she is thinking or wondering about. Take opportunities to wonder together.

6. Show your child that YOU read! Create cozy times for the two of you to read your own books side by side on the couch.

7. Give books as gifts. Let your child see you value and cherish reading in positive ways.

8. Celebrate the small steps and diversity of choice! Don't value the reading of a chapter book over the reading of the back of a cereal box. Celebrate all of it.

9. Be sure you know what's frustrating for your child; ask him what might be getting in his way. Also, check in with your child's teacher regularly to be sure you are doing all you can do collaboratively to help your child get over the hurdles of reading.

10. Celebrate rereading. If your child loves a particular book, it is more than okay for him or her to reread it. In fact, it builds stamina and is a good healthy thing for a growing child to do.