This quick test works for both adult and children's fiction -- and can be done by you and your child together.

* Open the book to page 40. By page 40, the author has gotten the story going, the editor has relaxed his blue pencil, and you'll get a real sense of the bottom-line quality of the book.

* Read the page carefully. Listen to it. Is the process lively and interesting? Is the dialogue realistic? Are you inclined to read on?

* Or is the prose leaden and dull? Is the dialogue the kind you'd expect on a soap opera but would never hear in real life? Is the book obviously moralizing or patronizing? Do you really want to read on?

Two minutes spent on page 40 could save you and your child many hours reading a lousy book.

-- From "Raising a Reader," by Paul Kropp

Pub Date: 03/10/99