Welcome! This website is a place for anyone raising a reader – from a baby to a 12-year old!
Here you’ll find ideas and information about reading with children from birth to age 12 and beyond including:
- Books
- Illustrations
- Raising Readers
- Art and Activities
How the Site is Organized:
Books
- Book reviews
- Author features
- Lists of books for topics: such as babies first library, books for pirate-lovers, favorite modern fairy tales
Illustrations
- Illustrator features
- Author/illustrator features
- Caldecott and other illustration-awards
Raising Readers
- Learn about the types of books and reading material available for children
- Discover ways to help children learn to read and love reading
- raising a reader might be the number one thing you can do to help your child success in their adult life. Find out ways to help your child become a reader – I’ll give you a hint – there are lots of ways to do this
Art and Activities
Activities ideas provide suggestions for ways to:
- Expand learning from a book or interest area
- Follow your child’s interests and tack on learning in the meantime
- Open ended activities to encourage creativity and help a child explore their individual likes and talents
- Activities that take various lengths of time
- Our favorite tools and materials!
You’ll Also Find:
Ways to Be Book Rich aka “How to Have A Lot of Books Without Spending Too Much”
To “be book rich” is to have a home that is full of books and other printed material. In educator lingo it’s called “a print-rich environment”. Homes that are print-rich consistently produce to children who find success in their adult lives. I talk about ways to “be book rich” frequently – especially ways to do this without spending enormous amounts of money. It is very possible to build a home library stocked with a diversity of content – books by different authors and different illustrators, from different publishers, and featuring different types of stories. Read more here about the many, many places and ways to get books!
Easter Eggs
Watch for these fun surprises. You probably know the term “Easter Eggs” as it is used in the gaming world. It refers to surprises that a game designer hides in a game. For a quick learn of this idea watch the film Ready Player One (might be okay for an 8+ year old, there is some language in the film so check the parent advisory first).
I use the term “Easter Eggs” to refer to surprises we find in books. If you know where to look you can often find these gems in every book you read with your child. They are like little scavenger hunts or mysteries. Looking for them builds an inquisitive mind. And these fun finds also expand the meaning of the books. Once upon a time we read a book and it turned out that if you didn’t read the “Easter Egg” you missed the whole meaning of the book!
Most of All – Have Fun!
More than anything I hope that you have fun exploring the wonderful world of children’s literature!