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Engaging books dazzle young readers
It's never too early to share love of reading with your child
The typical baby or toddler book has few words and lots of colorful illustrations. The absence of a lengthy, complicated story is intentional — children this age aren't ready for that. But just because the page might only have one word or one sentence, there are many opportunities to engage your child with every page you turn. And when a child is engaged, a child learns.
Take colors, for example. If your child is just learning about colors, point and talk about the pretty red flower, the green frog and so on. Once your child is more familiar with colors, ask her to show you where the blue balloon is or the yellow cat.
You can also do object identification on each page. If your child can't speak yet, ask him to show you where the kitten is or the butterfly. If your child can speak, ask her to identify specific objects, and later, to count how many of an item is on the page.
Most importantly, be creative and use enthusiasm when you read to your child. No one likes a dull storyteller. And use your imagination when you're reading books to your child. Before you know it, you'll be coming up with all sorts of creative ways to get more miles out of those baby and toddler books than you ever thought possible.
Books to Borrow
The following book is available at many public libraries.
• "Hooray for Fish!" written and illustrated by Lucy Cousins, Candlewick, 36 pages
Read aloud: 6 months — age 3
Read yourself: age 6 — 7
Swim along with Little Fish in the sea and meet all of his colorful friends. From spotty fish to stripy fish, hairy fish and scary fish — young readers will meet them all while they also learn about colors, a little bit about numbers and a lot about the fun of reading.
Librarian's Choice
Library: Butte County Library — Biggs Branch, 464A B St., Biggs
Library Director: Derek Wolfgram
Branch Librarian: Cynthia Pustejovsky
Choices this week: "When the New Baby Comes, I'm Moving Out!" by Martha Alexander; "Blaze and the Forest Fire" by C.W. Anderson; "Sounder" by William H. Armstrong
Books to Buy
The following books are available at your favorite bookstores.
• "Kisses: A Pull, Touch, Lift, Squeak, and Smooch Book!" written and illustrated by Barney Saltzberg, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010, 19 pages, $13.99 board book
Read aloud: birth — age 3
Read yourself: age 6 — 7
Just as the title indicates, this charming book is loaded with interactive fun — different textures to touch, flaps to open, tabs to pull and a squeaky surprise. This wonderful rhyming story demonstrates the love between a parent and a child and how kisses make everyone feel good. Additional concepts for learning include an introduction to letters, counting, parts of the body, colors and more.
The fifth book in Barney Saltzberg's successful "Kisses" series, this addition is bound to be a hit with babies and toddlers.
• "Rock & Roll Shapes" written and illustrated by Salina Yoon, Scholastic, 2010, 12 pages, $7.99 board book
Read aloud: birth — age 2
Read yourself: 5 — 6
This clever book makes learning basic shapes lots of fun. Each double-page spread features the name of the shape and several cut-outs of that shape in various sizes. Behind the cut-outs is a colorful and sparkling moving piece that further enhances the shape.
Square, circle, triangle, star and diamond are the shapes included, but make certain to take advantage of other learning opportunities, such as identifying colors and objects.
No doubt about it — "Rock and Roll Shapes" will have little kids learning their shapes in no time at all.
• "Zoo" written and illustrated by Salina Yoon, Scholastic, 2010, 10 pages, $8.99 board book
Read aloud: age 1 — 3
Read yourself: age 5 — 6
An ingenious little book, "Zoo" is a book, a puzzle and flash cards all in one. The simple story teaches colors (orange, gray, brown, black) and relates those colors to animals you'd see in the zoo. Each double-page spread has a pull-out the flash card with the corresponding color in a soft, furry texture and the color written on the bottom of the flash card.
Then, when the child is old enough, flip the flash cards over to create a simple four-piece puzzle, using the last page illustration as the guide.
Wow — that's a lot of leaning and fun in 10 short pages!
Kendal A. Rautzhan writes and lectures on children's literature. She can be reached at kendal@sunlink.net.
