Books Are Children’s Best Friend! (Choosing Children's Books Tips)

Lifestyle Parenting, Household Affairs and Cuisine corner
1

http://www.subversiveinfluence.com/images/blogposts/surprised-girl-reading-book.jpg

Women say, “Diamonds are the girl’s best friend”. But, for children, books 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.

1.* **For infants and toddlers

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.

**What you should do: **

  • Teach them to learn to turn the pages

  • Read the pictures for them.

Try these books:

[Peek-A Who? -*Nina Laden](http://<iframe src=)

[The Sneetches and Other Stories](http://<iframe src=) - Dr. Seuss

[Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See](http://<iframe src=) - Bill Martin Jr.

[Pat The Bunny (Touch and Feel Book)](http://<iframe src=) - Dorothy Kundhart

2.* **Preschoolers

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.

What you should do:

  • Read the book aloud to your children

  • Ask questions about pictures and what your children think will happen next to get them involved.

  • Help them to tell the story from the pictures alone to let them play an active role in story telling.

  • Encourage them to fill in missing words by using pictures.

  • Ask them to spot familiar letters and words to hold their attention.

Try these books:

  • [Bees (A Learn-to-Read series for Pre-schoolers)](http://<iframe src=)*- Joyce. M. Wise

  • “I Am”Memory Books for Pre-Schoolers](http://<iframe src=)*- N.A. Woychuk

  • [Best Stories for 5 Year Olds](http://<iframe src=) - Enid Blyton

3.* **For 6-8 year old children

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.

What you should do:

  • Read the first chapter together with your kid, but make sure that that chapter is not too long.

  • Ask your kid to read the stories for you instead of you read them for him/her.

  • Encourage your kid to memorize key words so that they can recognize them immediately without building them up. Help him/her to focus on these key words while reading a story. But, don’t let this dominate the reading session so that he/she loses the thread of the story.

  • Help him/her to guess what he/she think will happen to work out words in a story.

  • If your child gets stuck with some words, encourage him/her to use picture clues.

  • Share readings to enable you to explore new books with children.

  • Read aloud with all the feeling, accents, fun, and drama to make the books alive.

Try these books:

  • [Bed Time Stories for 6 Year Olds](http://<iframe src=) - Helen Paiba

  • [The Seven-Year-Old Wonder Book](http://<iframe src=) - Isabel Wyatt

4.* **For 9-11 year old children

Children at this age begin to view reading as a personal and independent activity. This is the right time to encourage interest in different types of books. Like adults, they want different types of books at different times and read a comfortable book to relax.

What you should do:

  • Give them huge variety of books at different times. There are many books choices based on children’s interests.

  • If your kid is rather reticent about reading, sport, music, war, adventure, ballet books are the right choice for him/her.

Try these books:

  • [David and Max](http://<iframe src=)*- Gary Provost

-**[Old Town in the Green Groyes: Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Lost Little House Years](http://<iframe src=) - Cynthia Rylant

  • [The Puffin Book of Stories forNine-Year-Olds (Young Puffin Read Aloud)](http://<iframe src=)- Wendy Cooling

  • [Cool HeadLuke: and Other Stories](http://<iframe src=)*- Jennifer Lasker White

  • [The Second Captain Underpants Collection: Books 5-7 and Adventures of Super Diaper Baby](http://<iframe src=)**- Dav Pilkey

5. For 12-15 year old children

At this age, children do not need help with the reading. The challenge for you is to try to ensure that your teen retains a love of books when there are so many distractions. Because, they begin to read only required school books and do not find such books enjoyable or entertaining. That’s why any readings you suggest to them should be interesting and entertaining. They tend to stick with mystery, horror, and adventure books and begin to move from children book to adults novel and non-fiction.

What you should do:

  • Help him/her to choose the right novel. Because, not all adult fiction is appropriate for them, as the language or styles of writing shouldn’t be exposed to them yet. Choose the books that produce material that is ideal for the transition from children’s to adult literature.

  • Discuss with your child about his/her reading to maintain their interest in books and make them think about what they are reading.

  • Ask for suggestions about books that you might enjoy.

Try these books:

-[James’s Journey](http://<iframe src=) - Asha Khalil

  • [The 100 Year Old Secret (The Sherlock Files)](http://<iframe src=) - Tracy Barrett

Last but not least, prepare your home to be a comfortable “library” for your family, so that you can enjoy books together at home. Happy reading with your kids!

2

Re: Books Are Children’s Best Friend! (Choosing Children’s Books Tips)

Great thread! :k:

3

Re: Books Are Children’s Best Friend! (Choosing Children's Books Tips)

Being a reading teacher.........i will say THUMBS UP to this thread.

One of the best things that parents AND teacher can do for children is to read aloud to them. There are NUMEROUS benefits to this simple activity on the cognitive development of a child.

By reading aloud to kids.......not only is the adult MODELING what proper reading sounds like for the child...........it also develops and enhances vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, ability to make predictions, ability to recognize patterns in situations, AND critical thinking skills.

Vocabulary is developed best through reading a book......as opposed to a vocabulary exercise in some workbook. Children who read more books, tend to have a bigger and stronger vocabulary.......and in turn are familiar with more words.......and this in turn helps with comprehension.

If a child is struggles with reading comprehension..........he/she will **ALSO **struggle in other subjects such as science, social studies, etc. This is because "reading" also takes place in these subjects as well......and is not only confined to an "English" class.

Finally......kids who read more.......tend to have stronger writing skills. This is because reading and writing go hand in hand. Both areas are connected to one another. Children who read good quality books........will try to emulate the style of the author in their own writing assignments.