I’m here with another installment of book recommendations: short-list style! But first a few statistics from the National Education Association (NEA). I’m always excited to find information supports what we are trying to do and confirms suspicions that I have had. This particular article reviews some of the benefits that children who are read to and read independently at home enjoy.

Some of these are they are more likely to recognize all the letters of the alphabet, more likely to be able to count to 20 or higher, write their own names, and read or pretend to read. This is one of my favorite things to see. There are few things sweeter than having a 1 year old climb up onto a couch, a chair, lay on the floor in a warm sunbeam, and engage in “reading” a book! Digital books are great but children also need to learn how to handle a book, how to turn pages without tearing them and to fall in love with the heft of a good book. In fact I’ll include a bonus recommendation in this post, right here:

Read it, Don’t Eat it! 
By Ian Schoenherr

This is a great introduction on how to handle books. We don’t color in books, or stand on books. Don’t fold pages and if it does get torn books can’t fix themselves. It also encourages the reader to to share their favorite stories with family and friends. I found this to be a good reminder and helped to reemphasize book etiquette I have been trying to teach.

I remember reading somewhere (a blog I think) about a mother who was teaching her children to read. She had gone to the library and gathered up a whole slew of books. When her husband came home and found stacks of books on the table he was somewhat bewildered and balked at the amount of books his wife had brought home for their emerging reader. “There is no way those will all be read before they are due! And more than half won’t be read because they are much too difficult.” The response has stuck with me: “You don’t teach a child to swim in small puddles. They need to be surrounded and immersed in water to become a proficient swimmer.” The article on NEA sites this same approach. According to the Educational Testing Service “ [t]he more types of reading materials there are in the home, the higher students are in reading proficiency.” And of course if children read at home they were better readers and surprisingly did better in math as well.

One final thing I want to point out from this article is they cite a well known fact: practice increases proficiency. If a child gets more practice reading at home they will be a better reader. Silent reading (which starts out as silent looking at pictures time) and reading aloud are both skills that need practice to improve. The more you read, the better you are at it. Most students hit an age where the assigned reading from school does not capture their interest and quickly their desire to read drops- or disappears- as does their confidence and ease of reading. Their reading skills – in essence- atrophy. I would encourage you to help them find a book or series that they love. Help them find something to read, or read aloud to them, keep those skills practiced and proficient.

It seems reading is such an ordinary thing, but truly the benefits of reading are extraordinary!

We Both Read Series

These are fun books and they come in several different reading levels (Pre-K, K, 1, 2, 3). One page is read by a proficient reader and the accompanying page is read by the emerging reader. The books are written in rhyme and aid with predictive skills in the young reader. They learn turn taking and contribution to storytime. The Level-K books seemed to have more advanced words for the new reader than I would have expected and only one or two words per page, but my children love reading with mom, and having an essential part in moving to story along.

Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee
By Chris Van Dusen

We love Mr. Magee and his little dog Dee. Mr. Magee wants to go skiing but decides he should practice first on a hill near his house. So Magee straps on his skis, puts Dee in a pack on his back and true to form, have quite an adventure, end up in a precarious situation, miraculously are saved and decide that perhaps they have just what they need at home, with each other. We love reading Chris Van Dusen books aloud. They have great rhyming, rhythm and stories. He is a new author to our family but we have become big fans!

Moo!
By David LaRochelle

This is a great book for early readers and emerging readers. It’s also a lot of fun for the adult who is reading aloud. There is only one word through the whole book: Moo (except for one surprise word at the end!) It is all about punctuation and inflection. It is a great book to learn about expressive reading, what different punctuation marks mean and how they change the words we read. This was a great find and a wonderful surprise.

Ron’s Big Mission
By Rose Blue

Set in the 1950’s before desegregation young Ron loves going to the library but is not allowed to check out books to take home. He decides that by his 9th birthday it is time, and his mission, to finally obtain a library card. Based on the true story of Ron McNair, it is an inspiring story of courage, resolve, standing up and making a difference.

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