Kids hardly ever remember our teaching points, but they rarely forget their hands-on experiences—building a fort, making a model, pretending to be someone else for an afternoon. In Jenny's case, while she doesn't remember learning her times tables, she easily remembers the experience of the reward: a walk into town at recess with her teacher, who bought her an ice cream cone. These days, she might forget the product of 12x9, but she's never forgotten that strawberry cone, or the way it felt to have time alone with her teacher.

Experiences in and of great books work the same way. Growing up on our family's old apple farm, we rarely finished a great story without doing something from it. We'd build what the characters built, cook what they ate, wander where they wandered, and pepper our parents with questions about things we'd come across.

They were teachers, so they ALWAYS told us to "go look it up!" Which we did, because they also provided us with lots of encyclopedia sets and reference books. In those days, you couldn't thumb your way to instant answers. You had to thumb your way through many pages, often in many volumes. Those experiences of looking things up manually stayed with us, too.

But most importantly, the stories that triggered the questions stayed. Important stories that made us not only think but feel.

So when you're reading with children, don't worry so much about comprehension questions. Instead, as you read, stimulate their curiosity about experiences and feelings:

• "What does that make you want to do?"

• "When she says that to him, how do you feel?"

• "If you were in the story, what would you do about that?"

• "Don't you wonder what that really tastes like?"

• "What tune do you think would go with those lyrics?" "

• "If you could talk to her right now, what would you say?"

Simple equestions can open the door to research, creativity, and meaningful conversations. More importantly, they help kids step into the shoes of the characters—and that's always where the real growth happens.

Because stories don't just teach one-time lessons; they introduce mentors for life. The characters in great books have experiences that help them learn the things we want to teach our kids: resourcefulness, courage, kindness, and perseverance. And when we encourage our kids to experience what the character experienced, we enhance the inherent lessons in his or her growth.

We help books show kids, in unforgettable ways, how to become the best people they can be.