Bill Belew has raised 2 bi-cultural kids, now 34 and 30. And he and his wife are now parenting a 3rd, Mia, who is 8.

Teaching Little Girls to Love to Read

I love to read.

For sure, I haven’t read The Last Lion … which is all about Winston Churchill. Winnie the Pooh was named after him. It’s a monster-sized book. And I am only 6 years old. But my daddy read it.

My daddy and I have read the first six books about another lion, Aslan!, in the Chronicles of Narnia. We are on the Last Battle now.

And I have just finished reading the Rainbow Magic Princess Fairies Book Series … by myself. Yay!

Yeah, I like to read. But how did I come to like to read? That’s a mystery.

I watch my daddy read. He seems really interested. And when he’s done … he tells me cool stories.

He just finished reading the automobile (ed: autobiography) of Walt Disney (Vintage).

I want to read and tell my daddy cool stories. Today I learned the Princess and the Pea was written by Hans Christian Anderson.

Did you know that Hans Christian Anderson was the name they used to create Hans, Kristoff, Anna and Swen in the movie Frozen?

Say those four names Hans, Kristoff, Anna, & Swen real fast and tell me what it sounds like.

My daddy also reads my books to me. He’s fun to listen to.

I don’t think he is really interested in fairies. But, he might be. I can’t really tell.

I do know that when he reads to me I can sometimes see and feel what is going on in the books… and that makes me want to read them, too.

Maybe that’s how you teach a little girl like me to love to read.

What books do you like to read?

Talk to Bill and others about their experiences raising bi-cultural Japanese-American kids.