Women say, “Diamonds are the girl’s best friend”. But, for children, acim are children’s best friend! Just like my niece who is a book freak. She likes reading so much. Book store is like a heaven for her. I think that’s because we (especially me) started to introduce her to books when she was only 5 months. What I did at that time was reading her a book with great colors and big picture and taught her to turn the pages one by one. I didn’t even care whether she understood the content or not.
Then, when she was older enough “to read” (I mean see) the books by herself, I begun to introduce her to book store. She liked it very much and this ritual became her new habit. Whenever she saw that we had time to take her to the book store, she begged us to go to the book store to buy new books for her book shelves.
Well, it needed a lot of money of course, but it’s all paid when I see my niece now. She grows into a curious and intelligent girl who likes reading a lot. She can finish her readings only a few hours after she bought those books. She is the second best in her class at school. That’s why I’m so proud of her (and also to my self for introducing her to books early.)
Interested in following what I did to my niece? These are what you need to know if you want to select books for your children.
Babies like picture books about objects, like clothing or animals. The good choices are cloth books and books made of heavy cardboard. These kinds of books are durable and easy for them to manipulate. Also choose books with bright, contrasting colors, interesting shapes, and textures. Singing books are also good for them! For toddler, books about numbers, shapes, and animals are the good ones.
Children at this age enjoy books that have a lot of pictures and repetition. They also like stories about themselves or about others their own age. Real-life stories such as tractors, engines also their favorites. Choose books with stories that can be read in 5-10 minutes with one or two printed lines on one page, have happy ending, and books with large and colored pictures that almost tell the story. Never choose books with intimidated story such as fighting or breaking toys.
Some children at this age can read fluently while others are just beginning. So, choosing books that suit your children’s level and interest is really important thing to do. You can begin to make a transition from picture books to chapter books. Find the books that have good size text with good amount of spacing between the lines and words. Also find books with good illustrations in their first chapter and have manageable words in them that can be built up.
