Profile of good readers

The process that makes kids avid book readers often starts long before they know how to read. 

At least, that fits the profiles of three kids who were identified as strong readers in the St. Louis County Library's summer reading program. 

Julie Bellm of Florissant, Jonathan Holmes of Hazelwood and Rebecca Champion of Ballwin all were exposed to books within months of their births. Their parents would hold them in their laps and read to them before they went to bed. 

And, now that they're older, they read a wide variety of books and really connect with characters in their books. They also like fantasy although only one of the three--Rebecca Champion--was very involved with the Harry Potter series about wizardry. 

Rebecca Champion is 11 and will be a 6th grader at Parkway South Middle School. She said, "I can picture what the characters look like and how they sound when they talk." 

Jonathan Holmes said his favorite book this summer was "Cloudy with a Chance of Meat Balls." In the book, food rains from the sky. Jonathan, 9, said, "I like it best when it rains pancakes for breakfast." 

Julie Bellm likes to read about mysteries and sports. She's always on the look out for books that involve sports characters involved in mysteries. 

Although most of their reading involves books of fiction, they also read non-fiction books, especially biographies. 

Rebecca read several books about John F. Kennedy while preparing a report for class. She added, "And last week, I got a couple books about Anne Frank." Anne was a young girl who wrote a diary of her experiences during World War II before she was killed. 

Jonathan said, "I read a biography of Malcolm X but I needed help with some of the bigger words." Malcolm X was a controversial African-American figure who was assassinated. 

Julie read a biography of Madame Marie Curie, the discoverer of radium and a two-time winner of the Nobel Prize. That reading was for a verbal book report in class. She dressed in her father's laboratory coat and safety glasses from his work at Mallinkrodt Co. while giving the report. 

Rebecca is the only one of the three that has read much in the very popular Harry Potter series. And even she hasn't read the fourth book in the series, which had 3.8 million books pre-sold before its publication this summer. 

Rebecca said, "I've read the first three and I'll probably get the fourth one for my birthday in October." She says she gets a lot of her books as gifts. She often offers suggestions about which books she'd like.

Julie said she's only read about three chapters of one of the Harry Potter books. Jonathan said, "I haven't read any of them but I hear they're good." 

Although they read a lot, the three also have other outside interests. 

In keeping with her interest in sports, Julie Bellm enjoys skating, soccer, roller hockey, basketball and volleyball. She says she's best at soccer where she plays either forward or on defense. 

Rebecca Champion said she played basketball, soccer and dodge ball during intramurals last year. She added, "Our P.E. teacher said we'd have skiing this year. I'd like to do that." 

Jonathan said he's looking forward to playing baseball at school this year. 

Concerning the early reading, Rebecca's father, Ken Champion, said, "We started reading to her every day when she was just a baby, still in the crib and holding a bottle. 

"Then, when she was about four, we were going to read 'Little Mermaid' again. But, she recited the whole book from memory, including the right voice inflections for each character." 

Lamontetia Holmes, Jonathan's mom, said, "I started reading to him when he was about three months old. I'd sit him in my lap and read books with lots of pictures and lots of colors." 

Janet Bellm, Julie's mother, read to her every evening before she went to bed. Then, she was ready to start reading by the time she was three, during her first year of pre-school.