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[CCBC-Net] baby books
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From: Miriam Budin <miriam>
Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2005 13:49:08 -0500
I hasten to add that reading to babies not only promotes visual literacy, but also verbal literacy, language acquisition and phonetic awareness.
Mother Goose rhymes and other simple verses are ideal (if unwitting) transmitters of all this information. Babies love the rhythms and the rhymes. I think they're hardwired to respond to them. Some of the best collections are THE REAL MOTHER GOOSE board book editions. I like them because the feature bright, clearly delineated illustrations and one rhyme per page, so the babies can focus on the subject at hand. My family also loved RHYMES AROUND THE DAY illustrated by Jan Ormerod. This is currently out-of-print, but used copies are available on-line and if you are buying for your own family I can't urge you strongly enough to grab one. Ormerod has found a rhyme for every conceivable daily activity--taking off a shirt, putting on a shirt, climbing stairs, going shopping, greeting Daddy--you name it. We all recited these rhymes at the appropriate moments throughout my boys' childhoods--an early shared literary experience.
ANYTHING illustrated by Byron Barton is a sure-fire winner. His own AIRPORT, MY CAR (as previously mentioned), MACHINES AT WORK--they are all wonderful. I have used GOOD MORNING, CHICK by Mirra Ginsburg, which Barton illustrated, every month of my life since it was published. It works with groups as well as with your own lap baby. Those bright colors, distinct outlines and details hidden in the illustrations and the repetitive text--pure gold.
Alan Allburgh's PEEK-A-BOO (also published as PEEP-O) is another favorite for lap-reading. The rhyming text takes the baby through the day, the cut-out hole through which the baby peers adds another dimension of intrigue and the illustrations are brimming with objects and people to point to and discuss. And it's incredibly sweet.
Just a few more good ones, lest I go on too long (I used to do workshops on this subject 22 years ago...) MORE, MORE, MORE SAID THE BABY by Vera Williams. TEN, NINE, EIGHT by Molly Bang. FREIGHT TRAIN by Donald Crews. WHEN YOU WERE A BABY by Ann Jonas.
Okay. I'll stop for now.
Miriam
Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2005 13:49:08 -0500
I hasten to add that reading to babies not only promotes visual literacy, but also verbal literacy, language acquisition and phonetic awareness.
Mother Goose rhymes and other simple verses are ideal (if unwitting) transmitters of all this information. Babies love the rhythms and the rhymes. I think they're hardwired to respond to them. Some of the best collections are THE REAL MOTHER GOOSE board book editions. I like them because the feature bright, clearly delineated illustrations and one rhyme per page, so the babies can focus on the subject at hand. My family also loved RHYMES AROUND THE DAY illustrated by Jan Ormerod. This is currently out-of-print, but used copies are available on-line and if you are buying for your own family I can't urge you strongly enough to grab one. Ormerod has found a rhyme for every conceivable daily activity--taking off a shirt, putting on a shirt, climbing stairs, going shopping, greeting Daddy--you name it. We all recited these rhymes at the appropriate moments throughout my boys' childhoods--an early shared literary experience.
ANYTHING illustrated by Byron Barton is a sure-fire winner. His own AIRPORT, MY CAR (as previously mentioned), MACHINES AT WORK--they are all wonderful. I have used GOOD MORNING, CHICK by Mirra Ginsburg, which Barton illustrated, every month of my life since it was published. It works with groups as well as with your own lap baby. Those bright colors, distinct outlines and details hidden in the illustrations and the repetitive text--pure gold.
Alan Allburgh's PEEK-A-BOO (also published as PEEP-O) is another favorite for lap-reading. The rhyming text takes the baby through the day, the cut-out hole through which the baby peers adds another dimension of intrigue and the illustrations are brimming with objects and people to point to and discuss. And it's incredibly sweet.
Just a few more good ones, lest I go on too long (I used to do workshops on this subject 22 years ago...) MORE, MORE, MORE SAID THE BABY by Vera Williams. TEN, NINE, EIGHT by Molly Bang. FREIGHT TRAIN by Donald Crews. WHEN YOU WERE A BABY by Ann Jonas.
Okay. I'll stop for now.
Miriam
-- Miriam Lang Budin Children's Librarian Chappaqua Library, NY --Received on Mon 07 Nov 2005 12:49:08 PM CST
