During my first week as a reading specialist at primary level, I encountered a first-grade teacher who used some very unusual incentives for his reading class. Bob, the only male in our primary school, had a sly grin when I asked him how he motivated his first graders.

My mother never read books to me as a child. Trained as a high school English teacher, I was also never made aware of the thrilling world of children’s lit. When I became an elementary children’s reading specialist, I decided that I needed to self-educate about books for the younger set.