Stimulate Your Child’s Interest in Reading Biographies

I couldn’t wait to start reading some of the biographies with my daughter.  We learned that Bill Gates’ mind was a sponge and as an elementary student and he read his entire encyclopedia set.  He could memorize verses from the bible, after reading them only once!  He had an appetite for learning.  When his parents transferred him to a new school he was like a fish out of water.  He didn’t fit the mold of the popular kids.  But he found like-minded kids who were fascinated by computers.  It was at this school that Bill met Paul Allen.  Together they embarked on an adventure to learn all they could about computers and programming.  Both Bill and Paul would stay up all night coding games to play on the computer and learning how to code.  Bill envisioned that one day they would start-up a software company together.  And they did.

I have to say, seeing the funny cartoon expressions on the characters’ faces and how they react to things really adds to the story.  I think back to the many other biographies we’ve read with no pictures and how dry they can get sometimes.

Two days later we read the J.K. Rowling biography.  My daughter is a BIG fan of Harry Potter, in fact, we all are.  She has read the first three books…two times!  To our surprise, we learned that Rowling loved to spend time in the nearby church cemetery.  It was quiet there and she found the names on the tombstones so fascinating, some of which made it into her Harry Potter series. J.K. Rowling’s mom passed her love for books onto her daughters.  J.K. Rowling couldn’t get enough of her books and she loved to write her own stories.  Her creative imagination was the impetus of many fun games she would invent for her sister and friends.  Rowling tried to take a traditional job route after school, but she’d often get distracted and begin writing stories.  She never lasted long at her jobs.  When she finally gave herself permission to write down her encompassing  thoughts about a wizard name Harry, she began to live.  Though her manuscript was turned down by numerous publishing companies, it only took one to say yes for her to realize her dream.

What I loved best about both biographies is that they taught my daughter that often our life-long passions are discovered during childhood and it reminded me to really

encourage my childrens’ interest and support them early on.  I also liked how that the life dream that Bill Gates and J.K. Rowling had as a child came true as they grew into adulthood.  These stories are teaching important lessons to my children…and to me.

The who? Comics app is available in the iTunes Store for $9.99 and includes two free biography comics – Oprah Winfrey and Bill Gates.  Each additional book is $4.99 but you can buy collections (Activists, Politicians, Artists in sets of 6) for $9.99 each set.

Right now Podotree is offering the opportunity to buy the 29 book comic series for only $29.99, which is a fantastic deal since buying each of these books separately would equal $149.99.