WIN a Kindle and More: Join the National PTA’s Family Reading Challenge #FamiliesRead #prizes

ChiIL out with ChiIL Mama and 

the National PTA

for the Family Reading Challenge 

this summer.
Many will WIN an Amazon Kindle, Amazon Kindle Gift Cards and More!

Disclosure: We're thrilled to partner up with the National PTA's Family Reading Challenge and have been compensated for spreading the word. As always, all opinions are our own.

My family is full of avid readers and writers. I've read to my 2 kids daily from before birth to the tween and teen years. Of course they read on their own, too, but I believe you're never too old to enjoy being read to. Even now, at ages 12 & 14, they love to snuggle up on the couch or in a hammock and hear a great chapter book, and I treasure this time too. It's one of the few times we all turn off the cell phones & electronics and slow down long enough to really hang out together. In a few short years they'll be off with their friends more, then off to college, but I know they'll take a lifelong love of reading and stories with them. It's one of the best gifts I can possibly give them.  

As if reading together isn't reward enough, the National PTA is giving away sweet prizes to encourage families to read together throughout July! Click here to sign up and get all the detail including fun activity ideas to pair with your summer reading.

Reading together as a family is a shared adventure and a chance to talk about characters and plots. My kids geek out on meeting authors and collect and treasure their signed books. Now that my kids are older we're into middle grade and adult fantasy chapter books that the adults in our family are enjoying as much as the kids! It does my soul good to hear the kids beg for "just one more chapter", over and over again as the plot thickens and the pages end in one cliff hanger after another.

Here are a few of our favorites to get you started. We highly recommend author Cornelia Funke for Igraine the Brave, the Inkheart series and the Reckless series. She has excellent books for young and middle grade readers through adults. 

Great Cornelia Funke picks for elementary readers:

My kids loved the book Igraine the Brave so much they named our dog for the protagonist. Igraine the Brave (AKA: Iggy Pup) is 4 now and embodies all the grrrrrrrl power awesomeness of Cornelia Funke's unconventional heroine. 

The Thickety (books 1 & 2) by J.A. White are other new favs of ours.

We're now working our way through all the Tolkin books and the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling. 

ChiIL Mama will be rocking the PTA Family Reading Challenge this summer... will YOU?!

 ChiIL out with ChiIL Mama and join this awesome campaign to inspire families to keep learning alive by reading great books together.

Families can participate in the PTA Family Reading Challenge—and win great prizes—by sharing photos, videos and memories that demonstrate how and why reading together is a fun and treasured family activity.

What’s next?

1. Take the challenge then tell your family and friends.
2. Start reading! Visit our Family Reading Ideas page for inspiration and FAQ page for more challenge specifics.
3. Share your progress using #FamiliesRead on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to be entered to win prizes.

Happy reading!

Disclosure: We're thrilled to partner up with the National PTA's Family Reading Challenge and have been compensated for spreading the word. As always, all opinions are our own.