Valley Parenting : Raising a Reader Takes Time : Children learn to love the printed word with a mixture of encouragement and example.

Nathan, your 4-year-old, has just asked you to read “Adventures of Taxi Dog” for the 32nd time. By now, you sur mise, he has the blasted thing memorized and could write, illustrate and publish his own award-winning children’s book.

Patience, says Kathie Aihara, vice president of the San Fernando Valley Reading Council, a 180-member network of educators who share reading trends and methods.

“Children who want the same story read over and over will begin to recognize certain words,” Aihara says. “They’re intent on incorporating language into their world.”

Encouraging your child to read doesn’t have to wear you out. But raising an avid reader takes time. The best time to start, educators agree, is in infancy.

“We encourage parents to start reading aloud even before their children can speak,” says Aihara, who teaches at Balboa magnet elementary school in Northridge. “Reading becomes associated with pleasure through physical closeness and the sound of a parent’s voice.

“And be sure to talk with your children--about stories you read together or life in general,” she adds. “Verbal skills develop right alongside reading skills. They both need to be encouraged.”

Aihara says it doesn’t matter what you read to your 6-month-old. Whether the selection was penned by Anne Rice or Maurice Sendak, your infant won’t care as long as your voice is soothing. Most children enjoy being read to until about age 13, Aihara says.

Laurel Peterson began reading to her children when they each turned 6 months old.

“It’s about when they could sit up and look at a book,” says Peterson, who lives in Tarzana with her husband Donald, 7-year-old twins Ryan and Ashley, Joel, 12, and Tim, 18. Matt 20, attends college.

Peterson’s boys devour science fiction novels, adventure and war stories.

“They have their father’s reading tastes,” says Peterson.

Nevertheless, Aihara points out, fathers and mothers should spend equal time reading to their children to avoid the impression that reading is “just for girls.”

Nor must reading be limited to books, experts say. The possibilities for encounters with the written word are endless--on billboards, recipes, greeting cards and cereal boxes. Even music or video cassettes may come with printed lyrics that can be followed as songs progress.

In the same spirit of making reading a part of everyday life, books themselves can travel beyond the living room lounger.

“We usually take books along on car trips,” says Peterson. She even reads to them in the bathtub.

Educators also suggest that parents offer themselves as models. Parents who read books, newspapers and magazines demonstrate that reading is pleasurable and a way to gain information.

Making a ritual of reading helps too. Some experts recommend reading to children regularly at bedtime, or setting aside a special reading spot that’s associated with comfort and warmth--an overstuffed chair with an afghan near a favorite window, for example.

Trips to the library can also be special events, says Darlene Daniel, president of the Southern California Children’s Booksellers Assn. and owner of the children’s bookstore Pages in Tarzana.

She advises parents to teach kids how to care for books and return them to libraries on time. After bringing library books home, she adds, rather than shelving them in a child’s room where they’re likely to disappear, scatter them across a dresser or even the floor.

Children who shun reading are sometimes bored with material they’ve been handed, says Aihara, and she cautions parents never to force children to read.

“For older kids, find out their favorite topic, even if it’s in a book a level above them,” says Aihara. For slower readers, she suggests starting with children’s magazines and even comic books.

To help parents navigate today’s burgeoning children’s book market, the Southern California Children’s Booksellers Assn. recommends “The New Read-Aloud Handbook” by Jim Trelease (Penguin U.S.A., $11). Trelease offers reading techniques for parents and suggests age-appropriate books.

Another recommended title is “Choosing Books for Kids” by Joanne Oppenheim, Barbara Brenner and Betty D. Boegehold (Ballantine, $9.95), which links children’s literature to child development and discusses subject matter in relation to age.