Saturday, July 3, 2010

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.


6 comments:

  1. I haven't heard of any such reading time counting bookmark, but it sounds interesting, I will go and check it out at Amazon, thanks! :-)

    ps. and I like the hot pink too ;-)

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  2. Pink is for me too!;)

    I wonder if I can get this is stores! I prefer not to buy much stuff online but that may have to change after I see all these goodies!!=)


    Thx for sharing!

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  3. I can't believe you already got it! I have to check out that 2-day thing! Have a great 4th!

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  4. I've never really thought about keeping track of how long it takes me to read a book... Great idea!! Hmmm wish the Kindle has some kind of function to keep track...

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  5. Whoa, cool! I've gotta get one! Thanks for sharing.

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  6. Love this new toy...I just might be adding this to my cart the next time I head over to Amazon, thanks for the heads up!

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