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The Rules of Reading
How to Engage Baby and Toddler By Christy R. Stevenson
– Does it have an important lesson to teach? How can that lesson be applied?
A book need not meet every single one of these requirements to be a good book, but it should meet the requirements that are important to you as a parent. If you feel inadequate to be the judge of this criteria, ask bookstore employees or librarians, or go online to read book reviews and research the latest award-winners. (Picture books can receive such awards as the Caldecott Award and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award.) Above all, ask other parents. Ask them what their infants and toddlers most enjoyed in the book department. Once you get a solid consensus, you can be confident your child will also like the book.
How to Read to Your Small Children
Most of us are not natural-born storytellers. It takes some theatrical ability, as well as letting go of some inhibitions, to make a book come alive for our babies. But since we find ourselves already hamming it up for baby – changing our normal voices to high-pitched baby-talk voices and crawling around on the floor performing a variety of circus tricks, anything to get baby to smile and laugh – I think we can manage some of the tips below:
