Great Read
I’ve decided to start featuring great parenting books within the blo Each month I will be highlighting what I think are some of the best parenting books that focus on raising readers. Appropriately, this first book is How to Raise a Reader by Pamela Paul and Maria Russo. Interestingly, the hardcover version is currently under $10 on Amazon right now.
This book is full of tips and begins with an entire chapter on reading to your baby and begins with best practices for reading to your child in utero. That’s right, go ahead, read to your bump. It’s not necessary that you read a children’s book, you can read anything you want, just as long as you read aloud. Your child already knows your voice and when you read aloud he can learn so much more about you. He’ll hear your inflections, your rhythm, and even begin to recognize when you pause and there’s nothing but silence.
The authors also discuss “full body reading”. I”ve never heard this phrase before, but it’s certainly one of the things I love about reading to children. “Full Body Reading” is reading that taps into multiple senses.
Of course there’s the sound of the words, but there’s also the secure feeling of being held and stroked. There’s the feeling and even possibly the smell of the book and its pages. From birth and up to about 7 months old, the authors point out that a baby’s eyes will probably wander as she’s being read to, but after 7 months, she’s going to be able to focus on the illustrations. During this phase, they suggest stepping away from the text and spending some time actually describing the illustrations.
When my best friend and I owned a toy store (the coolest toy store ever), we carried a line of books called “That’s Not My ___________”. These books certainly had all the elements required for “Full Body Reading”. Each book had a limited focus and included multiple visual and tactile elements. In That’s Not My Lion, the text says his tail is too fluffy, and there’s actually a fluffy bit for your child to feel… or That’s not my lion, his paws are too rough, and there’s a paw with a sandpaper-like feel to it. We couldn’t keep these books in stock! There are over 20 titles in the series and we loved each one.
