Family Reading: Support Emerging Readers

Does your toddler have a pre-k, kindergarten, or first grade sibling? With the help of the right book, the older child can "read" to the younger one, learning letters, numbers, and sight vocabulary along the way.

Many board books have little or no text and baby book illustrations tend to closely match the print on the page. Consider two books by Michel Blake: Baby's Day and Off to Bed. Each board book shows baby in action in black and white. The twist? One item on each page is in color, catching the reader's eye. That item is labeled in large print--blocks, bowl, blanket. An emerging reader will likely tell a tale based on pictures, but just as likely, he'll notice book print as well.

Grab a baby book, scoop up your kids and hand over the reading reins, if only for a day.

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What Is a Concept Book?

The short (or long or tall) of it: A concept book is a picture book that teaches a broad concept to young readers. Examples? Alphabet books, number books, books about c o l o r s , opposites, books about feelings and emotions. A concept is an idea, an abstract notion. Here's the rub. Very young readers are concrete thinkers, very "here and now." Luckily concept books do not have to teach the alphabetic principle, or algebra, or color theory. They teach what toddlers and young preschoolers can see, hear, touch, and feel - the upper and lowercase, quiet and loud, and happy and sad face of things. Three concept books by DENISE FLEMING: LUNCH (1998) from Henry Holt and Co. Concept: Colors. A toothsome mouse, called Mouse, eats his way through the primary and secondary colors and then some. The pictures are deliciously big. Bon appetit! The emergent literacy bent: The text is sparse and the letters large, fostering print awareness. Point out a few words as yo

No Time Like the Present

Give yourself and your baby a present. Time together, apart from others time. Quiet time. No ring tones. No sass tones. No Ho! Ho! Ho! Quiet. One-on-one book time. One-on-one look time. Sleepy head, head on shoulder time. Quiet LOUD (2003) by Leslie Patricelli .

All A Board! All About Books for Babies

Hello! I've moved to Poughkeepsie (New York, not Arkansas) and started a free online magazine about... drum roll... books for babies! It's called All A Board! and can be accessed via a title search at issuu.com or by clicking here . It offers a peek at upcoming board titles and age icons that help match baby to books based on developmental age. Articles focus on the people that make board books happen and early book sharing. The first issue launched just days ago! What's on top of your read-aloud stack?

The Baby Book Nook

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