10.08.07

One of my greatest pleasures is reading. As a child, books were my favorite toys as my imagination carried me all over the world via the pages my current book. I continue to promote reading, constantly looking for ways to encourage children to make it a pleasurable and habitual part of their lives.

I recently discovered a product with a clever new twist, which promotes and monitors reading time. An attractive digital clock bookmark, it essentially fosters good reading skills. This sleek device, which fits tidily between the pages of a book, comes in really cool neon colors.

May I introduce the inventor, Maureen Farinella, who "knew there had to be a better way to track required time for her daughter, Megan".  "She wanted a product that would fit neatly into a book and store reading time until the reader deleted it."  She thought it should be "started and stopped when Megan wanted to read just a little more…have a countdown timer with an alarm" to allow Megan the freedom to "get absorbed in a story without the distraction of checking on the time every few minutes". Maureen enlisted her husband Joe's expertise in the creation of her concept.  Subsequently their digital bookmark received its first patent and won the "Best New Product" award at the 2004 BookExpo of America.

This bookmark/timer is a fabulous all in one tool. Once a school age child is assigned required reading time they simply set the countdown mode and let the alarm inform them when the assignment is done. The cumulative timer mode stores time over multiple reading sessions, which clearly demonstrates the fortitude of the reader as it creates reading incentives. It instills a great feeling of accomplishment while tracking progress and further encourages kids to make reading a daily habit!  Order yours today as you join me in promoting literacy and the love of reading with mark-my-time™.