My wife and I walked to town today and saw the new Alex Cross movie with Tyler Perry. We enjoyed it and recommend it but consider reading the novels first.

James Patterson is the author of the Alex Cross series and I have read several. The novels featuring his character Alex Cross, a forensic psychologist who works as a private psychologist and government consultant, are his most popular and the top-selling U.S. detective series in the past ten years. Patterson has written 71 novels in 33 years. He has had 19 consecutive #1 New York Times bestselling novels, and holds The New York Times record for most bestselling hardcover fiction titles by a single author, a total of 63. James Patterson’s books have sold an estimated 260 million copies worldwide; in recent years his novels have sold more copies than those of Stephen King, John Grisham and Dan Brown combined.

Patterson says, “It’s our responsibility as parents to get our kids to read. This one is big. Huge! We can’t wait for teachers or librarians or their peers to do it. It’s our job to get our kids to read—not the teacher. We need to show them that it is fun and that it is cool. And give them books that will excite them.”

Patterson’s advice works. It wasn’t a teacher that motivated me to enjoy reading. It was my mother. After I fell in love with reading, there was no turning back.

When Patterson’s son was age eight, he and his wife told their child he had to read. His son didn’t like reading at first. By the end of that summer, he had read about seven books and loved most of them.

Watch the embedded video. Listen to what Patterson has to say. If you expect teachers to do the parent’s job when it comes to reading, then the child may be a loser for the rest of his or her life.

We already ask America’s public school teachers to do much more than just teach and demanding that they also do a parent’s job is ridiculous.

Patterson’s ReadKiddoRead.com is a site designed to turn kids all across the nation into passionate, literate, and inspired readers and he has ten tips to get kids reading.

Discover that Educating Chidren is a Partnership

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of The Concubine Saga.

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