Children's Books

Reading with your child is really important. A couple years ago I had the opportunity to hear Jim Trelease, author of The Read-Aloud Handbook speak on the importance of reading out loud to children. In his book he makes a point that reading out loud to children does some of the following:

• It shows that parents value reading
• It provides quality time with your child
• A pleasure connection is being made between the child and book and the child and parent
• Both the parent and child are learning something from the books they are sharing
• The adult is pouring sounds and syllables called words into the child's ear

He said the following: "It's not the toys in the house that make the difference in children's lives; it's the words in their heads. The least expensive thing we can give a child outside a hug turns out to be the most valuable: words."

I love reading books with my daughter and believe that it does give us a special connection.

So, here are some of our favorite children's books right now... (in no particular order)

Each Peach Pear Plum by Allan and Janet Ahlberg
Jamberry by Bruce Degan
B is for Bear by Roger Priddy
Quick as a Cricket by Don and Audrey Wood
Silly Sally by Audrey Wood
Heckedy Peg By Don and Audrey Wood
The HICCUPotmus by Aaron Zenz
How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long and David Shannon
The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle
The Very Hungry Catepillar by Eric Carle
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? by Eric Carle

***What are your favorite books you read with your child??