March is National Reading month and I love books. As a child, my house was surrounded with books, my mother viewed them as her treasures. When I had my own children I too, wanted them to learn to treasure books. Here are some of their favorites on our shelf. I have listed the books by age, this range is based on my evaluation of the words and content.
Mommy Hugs (age 0-3)
My children love being hugged, kissed, and told how much they are are loved. Mommy Hugs, is a board book they received at birth and continue to enjoy it. At 3 this is a good book that they can read to you. The words are simple and the pictures are soft and vivid. The book not only shares a typical routine for a child, but it helps children learn to count to 10. As your child grows older it is a great book for helping children grasp number concepts by showing them through your actions what the numbers mean.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1+)
This book has been an all-time favorite of children. The rhyming words are fun and inviting and very catchy too. Very quickly your child will learn how to sing or say the words on his or her own. This is an alphabet book that is fun and whimsical. We also have the Ray Charles CD that came with the book, my kids love it.
Here is the book on YouTube:
Rooster’s Off to See The World (3-5)
Eric Carle has been one of my favorite authors sense I was a child and it was only natural for me to introduce my children to my favorites. This is another counting book. I think this book makes a great puppet story. This week I will be creating a puppet show with my kids as we read this book.We will be cutting the animals out of magazines I have at home and gluing them to Popsicle sticks.
Here is another activity from Book it that you can do with your child. The activity helps children understand the meaning of numbers and groups as they hear about the 14 different animals who join Rooster as he travels Click Here.
Queen of the Scene (2-10)
Now that my girls are older “Queen of the Scene” is one of their favorite stories. They love the rhymes and authority of the little girl in the book. Queen Latifah also provides a CD of her reading the story. It is great to have this audio book that many young girls can relate too. It helps girls feel strong and empowered.
Some of the lines in the book are so inspiring and encouraging for children.
Here is my favorite quote from the book:
“So girl, take pride–
Even if at first you fall
Keep giving it another try,
The queen in you walks tall.”
Hip Hop Speaks To Children (8+)
Nikki Giovanni is legendary and I had to give my kids a chance to fall in love with poetry just as I did as a kid. This book isn’t really for younger readers, but I like my children to hear the sounds of words. My mother recited poetry to me before I went to bed when I was small and this book reminds me of those days. My children also loves the variety of words in this book so I let them listen to the CD that came with the book so they would become familiar with the different rhythms found in words.
I have also started teaching my children how to write their own poetry. We use picture cut-outs to make the activity more fun and age appropriate.
Additional Resource:
If you want to know about more activities that will help foster and nurture early readers, LeapFrog has a great resource on their site this month.