They are the first tools to unlocking your child's imagination and their
impressions can last a lifetime.
Just like the Pearl-Edwards family, Parenting Magazine’s Best Books of the
Year come in all shapes and sizes.
Here are just a few of Parenting Magazine’s choices for the best of 2002.
“Olivia Counts” by Ian Falconer is one of the best books for the zero to
two-year-old range.
“When buying first books for very young children, 0 to 2-years-old, you
want eye-catching graphics and just a few words,” said Mary Giles.
For toddlers you want to look for uncomplicated stories and repeating
rhythms and words that will help them follow the story.
“Frida” tells the life story of the famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
Young readers will enjoy the words by Jonah Winter but the beautiful
illustrations capture the imagination at any age.
Four to 8-year-olds have a greater attention span so they are able to
follow a more interesting plot.
“Summersaults” by Douglas Florian is a book of poems that can inspire the
feeling of summer any time of the year.
“School-aged kids who are just learning to read have a sense of mastery
when they are looking at books, so you want things that have very straight
forward language with a lot of easy to recognize words,” said Giles.
A First Look at Books
It’s never too early to break out the books for your baby
By Alison Bell
Jake Bova, of Irvine, CA, may only be 8 months old, but he already has a
well-stocked library. And, says his mom, "I hold him in my lap and read to
him every night before bed."
It’s never too early to break out the books for your baby. "Reading
together gives parents and infants an opportunity to share loving
moments," says Sharon L. Ramey, Ph.D., a psychologist and coauthor of
Right From Birth: Building Your Child’s Foundation for Life. These
positive early experiences with books can help babies grow into kids who
love to read. And hearing a variety of rhymes, rhythms, words, and
repetitions develops language skills. Here, some age-by-age guidelines:
NEWBORN TO 2 MONTHS: A young infant’s still-developing eyes pick up on
bold contrasts most easily, so start with books that have simple,
black-and-white or primary-color images, says Deborah Strevy, Ph.D.,
director of early-childhood education at the Samford University School of
Education, in Birmingham, AL.
2 TO 5 MONTHS: Babies this age delight in rhythm and repetition, so break
out the rhymes. And take advantage of your child’s curiosity about his
body by playing games, suggests Strevy. You might run your fingers up his
arm as you read "hickory, dickory, dock, the mouse ran up the clock," for
instance.
As you look through books together, your comments will make it more fun
for him, and help him make the connection between what he sees there and
in the world around him. If you come across a picture of a ball, you might
say, "Look, it’s like the red ball at Grandma’s house." Go ahead and ham
it up by using different voices for different characters — your baby will
be an appreciative audience.
5 TO 9 MONTHS: Little book lovers will begin to reach for everything in
their grasp, so give yours something interesting to feel by offering such
sensory books as Pat the Bunny, with a variety of textures, like scratchy
sandpaper and soft felt. And continue to bring out those with short,
simple stories.
If your baby starts to chew on his books, gently take them away and offer
him a teether instead.
9 TO 12 MONTHS: Your almost-toddler will start to hold his books as you
read them together, and may even be able to turn pages. Best bets: chubby
cardboard versions designed to fit into small hands and hold up to rough
handling.
Books that feature one or two words and an everyday item per page are
favorites for kids who are learning the names of common objects.
