When her mom told her she would love reading, rebellious six-year-old Dakota Lee scoffed and went on a mission to prove her mom wrong. Now at thirteen years old and a published author of “Flash of Freedom,” Dakota offers her top 5 ways to make reading fun for kids:

1. Get your young reader hooked - on series books. Fictional series typically share a common setting, story arc, set of characters or timeline. Series books are common in children's literature, and help kids get excited about continuing to read about characters they've become familiar with and to find out ‘what happens next?’ to them. Dakota says “For me it was the Thoroughbred Series by Joanna Campbell. I was addicted to those books! Many of them I have read more than once.”

2. Take your young reader to meet and greet a favorite author in person. Be on the lookout for local book signing events in your area, and show up to meet an admired author. This is one of the ways Dakota’s mom helped her get excited about books. “I met some of my favorite authors for free. Meeting an author changes the reading experience. Plus you can get your own signed copy of the book to keep!”

3. Find and read a pile of magazines together. Magazines are great for condensing timely information about a very specific interest. It’s nearly impossible not to find a periodical or magazine that’s built around a topic your young reader wants to explore. Is your young reader passionate about geography? Fashion? Cars? Horses? No matter what, you’re almost certain find a magazine centered on the topic. Dakota suggests: “Go on a trip to Barnes & Noble together. Each of you picks 5 magazines you are interested in, and then go sit down with a beverage. Each of you quietly reads through your pile. If they really love one magazine, buy that issue, then subscribe to it later. When it arrives, your child’s name is on the address label, so the magazine becomes a personal invitation for them to read.”

4. Provide plenty of valuable “Free Reading Time” It’s important to allow time to simply read with nothing else on the agenda. Dakota says “My feeling about 'free reading time' is that it really has to be free. Free reading time also means allowing your child to relax and read without requiring that they ‘do something’ after they finish a book — like writing a book report.”

5. Let it flow – with a Free Write Journal The same goes for writing. Dakota continues “My fourth grade teacher gave us a ‘free write journal’ which we were free to write in as we wanted. That’s how my book Flash of Freedom was born. Had that been just another writing assignment, I might not be a published author today.”