Devouring books? So you want to raise a bookworm? Then encourage your children to love books long before they learn to read. Introduce books to your children as soon as their chubby little fingers can hold them. Babies will love to explore the pictures in board books. They’ll also love chewing them, but that’s okay. It’s all part of building up a familiarity with books.

An old cartoon: “Sniffles and the Bookworm” is a 1939 Merrie Melodies cartoon from Warner Bros. Studios. Directed by Chuck Jones, this was the third cartoon with Sniffles the mouse. This cartoon, however, was more in line with the “books come to life” entries from around this period.

You have to know your kids a little bit… Find books on topics that your kids are passionate about. Is your child mad about cars? Do you have a mini ballerina pirouetting around the house? Then choose books on these topics. Even the most reluctant bookworms will want to read on when the book is on a topic that they are really interested in.

Wedding conundrum? If your best man is more of a bookworm type, buying cool best man gifts may be more difficult. Always elegant and always needed is a specially engraved bookmark, made of fine metals such as gold or silver. Other ideas are personalized book ends or a special copy of his favorite childhood book. By the way, if you are looking for gifts for me (the publisher), graphic novels will do just fine!

For British comic strip fans… Bookworm was the eponymous fictional character in a comic strip in the British comic, Whoopee!. It first appeared in the early 1980s, and survived Whoopee!’s merger with Whizzer and Chips in 1985, becoming a Chip-ite. It was drawn by Sid Burgon for most of its history, although Barry Glennard drew a substantial number of episodes.

Summer time or winter time, too! Do you have a bookworm at your house? Hopefully, this summer your bookworm or worms will read, read, read. It is a wonderful time to get caught up on reading. Reading just for the pleasure of it is a memory that we carry with us all of our lives. When I was a young boy, I read the Wizard of Oz books, Tarzan and the Hardy Boys stories each summer. (I also snuck in some Nancy Drew.)