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Parents & Caregivers

Family Reading Kits

Explore the joys of reading with your family

Discover the joys of reading as a family

The Family Reading Kits for 2023 are four different titles for children ages 6-17 and one picture book for younger readers. The kits are a booklet with discussion questions to spark lively conversation, related activities, and more staff-recommended titles to read aloud as a family or in your classroom.

Family Reading Kits are self-led, so your family can read as many as they like! Download your booklet to the end of December 2023 and happy reading!

Download current Family Reading Kits

There are many benefits to reading as a family

Reading together as a family is a great way to connect, get to know one another, and start bigger conversations about our world and ourselves. 

Make the most of your Family Reading Kit experience with these tips for reading with your family.

You can help your child advance their reading comprehension skills faster by using the dialogic reading technique. Learn how.

You’re never too old to enjoy being read to. According to the Kids and Family Reading Report conducted by Scholastic in 2017, listening to stories read by others can have these benefits, and more.

  • Children who are read to score an average of 10 points higher on standardized reading tests.
  • Children ages 6 – 11 who read out loud to their grown-up become avid readers.
  • Children spend five times more time outside school as they do in school. Reading that happens beyond the classroom has a big impact!
  • 57% of kids who are frequent readers see their caregivers reading 5 – 7 days per week.
  • Children who take turns reading, or ask questions and make sound effects while reading are more likely to be frequent readers.
  • 85% of children ages 6 – 14 who have been read aloud to say they love it! Reading together as a family increases bonds gives us opportunities to connect and share new ideas with each other.
background image: This is a photograph of a Short Story Dispenser with a gray couch in the background behind it. On the sign, it says to select your reading time: 1 minute, 3 minutes, or 5 minutes.

Publish your very own comic strip

The Short Story Dispenser at Central Library delivers short stories and poetry on demand to enchant readers with free, unexpected, original writing, vending machine style.

You and your family can now create a comic strip to be included in the Short Story Dispenser. Follow the instructions in the Measuring Up Family Reading Kit. The Short Story Dispenser can only print comics vertically, in black and white, so keep this in mind as you create. To submit your comic, email a JPEG or PNG file to shortedition@calgarylibrary.ca. You will be notified by email if your comic strip is chosen. 

An illustration of Family Reading Kits. The background is light and dark blue with scribbles on it. Over the top of the background are four different book covers.

More to Read

If your family enjoyed the titles in this year's Family Reading Kits, you might like these selections from 2022.