For the Bookish

Like so many other students out there, Kate, my third grader, is required as part of her homework to read at least 20 minutes per day. But tracking that time can be a real challenge for a young reader, who might get sucked into a book for an hour or only have time for a short literary break.

I can recommend this cool product to help: Mark-My-Time digital bookmark, which helps track reading time. Kate figured out how to set it pretty quickly and now keeps it stuffed into the pages of her current book or slides it into her backpack. No more hunting down a timer or watching the clock. And best of all, it's quelled my nagging: "Did you read 20 minutes? I don't think that was long enough!"

The bookmark can be set to count down or track cumulative time and is made from durable plastic. It comes in neon blue, green or purple and retails for $8.95 at various bookstores and at the Mark-My-Time Web site.