Are you looking for something yummy…to read?   A new novel by up-and-coming author Adam Glendon Sidwell will give you just that – a tasty treat for your imagination.  Evertaster is set to be released on June 14, 2012, so kids and adults alike have a reason to be excited.  This is a new book parents and children can read – and truly enjoy – together.

The first in the latest children’s adventure series, Evertaster follows the curious undertakings of a picky eater who is fed up (quite literally) with his mother’s cooking.  Surely almost every parent knows firsthand the kind of lengths to which a choosy-child will go to ensure that their meals are “just so.”  But I’ll stop with the commentary and the puns so you can nibble on the novel (last one, I swear) yourself.

Here is a quick synopsis of Evertaster:

When eleven year-old Guster Johnsonville rejects his mother's casserole for the umpteenth time, she takes him to the city of New Orleans to find him something to eat. There, in a dark, abandoned corner of the city, they meet a dying pastry maker who tells them of a legendary recipe called the Gastronomy of Peace -- a recipe created hundreds of years ago, shrouded in secrecy, and sought after by connoisseurs everywhere.

So begins a perilous adventure that will take Guster, his clever sister Mariah, and the rest of the Johnsonvilles on an adventure to ancient ruins, faraway jungles and forgotten caves, where they discover that their search is more than just a quest to satisfy Guster's cravings -- it is a quest that could change humanity forever. 

So why should parents consider picking up this novel?  Experienced readers will love the creativity of the plot (yes, even you) and early readers will enjoy the imaginative and relatable pal they find in Guster.  Also, if you’re trying to raise a successful reader, there are a few things that you really should not compromise on.  Here is a basic summary:

1) You have to actually read with your children, especially while their fluency is first developing. Reading with your children is a practice that is helpful at any age really though, especially because comprehension of text is often something children lose out on without even knowing.

2) You have to encourage your child to read.  Encouraging your child can be done by offering verbal praise or by providing them with interesting books.

3) You have to be a model.  I know how busy life as a parent can get, but if you won’t find the time to read, do you really think your children will?  Invest your time in a book, read the newspaper, and consider making it a family habit to collectively or individually read at a certain time each evening.  You can only benefit from reading more and you can really lose out if you don’t.

Our company Curriculum Director Heidi Hyte is actually friends with the author of Evertaster, and she featured a review here on her English language learning blog, ESL Trail, as well.  If you’d like to learn more about Adam Glendon Sidwell or Evertaster, check out http://www.evertaster.com/.

Do you want to give your struggling reader the boost they need to be able to enjoy reading?  Even if your child is struggling with a learning disorder such as dyslexia or a development disorder such as autism, Reading Horizons can help by offering students a program that uses explicit, systematic, and sequential phonics instruction.  Check it out – you have nothing to lose and only reading levels to gain.