My New Toy

I got a new toy. Well, actually, it is a reading accessory. I was reading blogs and saw a bookmark that could keep track of the time spent reading mentioned. That intrigued me.

I recently participated in a couple of read-a-thons when knowing how much time I actually spent reading would have been useful. I wandered over to Amazon and searched. This is what I found: The Mark-My-Time digital bookmark.

This bookmark will either count up time or count down time. It is actually advertised as a way for kids (and parents) to keep track of time spent reading because research has shown that 20 minutes a day of reading time for kids has measurable benefits in school performance.

I will certainly be using the count up function much more frequently since I have no problem reading at least 20 minutes a day. I used it today for the first time when I read The Time Weaver by Shana Abe. I learned that I read the book in 4 hours and 4 minutes of actual reading time. I first set the mode to count up. Then I just pressed the red button each time I began reading and pressed it again each time I stopped. I also found that I started and stopped reading a lot. I would go off for a drink of water or check out an inning of a baseball game or go check on the laundry.

The Mark-My-Time bookmark comes in a variety of cool colors and is quite inexpensive. I paid $8.45. I chose hot pink for mine because sometimes I want to be a girly-girl.  I recommend it for both reluctant readers and avid readers who want to know how much time they are really spending reading.