What you think does matter

The Magic Spark: What Truly Makes a Children’s Book Unforgettable Have you ever watched a child’s face while they are deeply tucked into a story? It is one of the most beautiful sights in the world. Their eyes widen, their breath catches, and for a few moments, the living room or the classroom disappears, replaced by a forest, a space station, or a magical kingdom. As parents, teachers, and caregivers, we often find ourselves standing in front of massive bookshelves, wondering: Which one will be the one they remember? What makes a book truly "interesting" to a child? It isn’t always the book with the shiniest cover or the one that won the biggest award. The books that children ask for night after night—the ones that end up with dog-eared pages and worn-out spines—usually share a few "secret ingredients." Let’s take a gentle look at what creates that magic spark and keeps young readers coming back for more. 1. Characters Who Feel Like Friends The heart of any great s...

  Helping Your Child Love Books: 6 Things to Avoid Being a parent is a big job. You want your child to succeed, and one of the best ways to do that is to help them become a great reader. Reading helps with school, but it also opens up new worlds. However, sometimes the things we do to help can actually backfire. I did some research using expert sources to find out what might be slowing kids down. It turns out that even with the best intentions, we can accidentally make reading feel like a struggle. Here are the six biggest things parents do that can hinder a child’s reading—and how you can fix them! 1. Making Reading Feel Like a Chore We’ve all been there: "No video games until you read for 20 minutes!" It seems like a good deal, right? But experts say that when we use reading as a "requirement" for fun stuff, kids start to think of reading as "work." If reading is a chore, they won't want to do it for fun. Instead of making it a rule, try making it a ...

FREE QR Code from Google For years, creating a simple QR code felt like it should be easy—but somehow never was. Every time I needed one, I ended up on a third-party website that promised “free” QR codes, only to discover the catch later. Some made me pay to download a high-resolution image. Others worked for a while and then suddenly paused my code unless I upgraded to a monthly plan. A few even started showing ads or redirect screens before sending people to the link I actually wanted them to see. It was frustrating, especially when all I wanted was a clean, reliable QR code that sent readers straight where they needed to go. That’s why discovering how easy it is to create a QR code with Google felt like such a relief. Look how clean and beautiful it looks: Google offers a completely free, no-strings-attached way to generate QR codes, and it takes less than a minute. There are no subscriptions, no expiration dates, no surprise ads, and no “upgrade to unlock” messages. The QR code si...