The Baby Book Nook

Jen Robinson writes at Jen Robinson's Book Page , a wonderful website about children's books and read-aloud. She kindly agreed to answer questions about her almost-two-year-old's experiences with reading. Thank you Jen!!! How old was your daughter when you first started reading to her?                              We started reading to her in the womb. I would read to her during the daytime, and my husband would read to her before we went to sleep. Because she was born 10 weeks early, we didn’t have any books with us when we went to the hospital. It took us a day or so to start reading to her there. Her first book out in the world was Judith Kerr’s One Night in the Zoo . Her first chapter book, which I started reading to her in the NICU, was The Secret Garden . During those first few months, how did your baby signal that reading time was over?   She ...

Meet two babies extraordinaire, 17-month-old siblings Quincy and Simone. Their mom kindly let me post their YouTube video and answered questions about their reading routine. Cast a researcher's eye as the video plays: The babies are reading Let's Play Peek-a-boo ! by Jane Massey. Simone reaches for a peek-a-boo flap on the front cover. Quincy's eyes follow. This is the first of several moments of joint attention, when reading partners focus on the same word, picture, or page element. This it the sweet spot of read-aloud where learning takes place. Simone holds the book right-side-up and reads from front to back. The babies turn pages- sometimes one at a time- sometimes several at once. Quincy points. Simone plays, diving into the book to kiss a mirror insert on the last page. Peek-a-boo! Together, they vocalize, back and forth, in book conversation. Booooo! Simone and Quincy look at books daily. They attend a library lap-sit program weekly. Favorite books include...