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If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! Sometimes, when you’re reading a book with your child, you don’t have to say a word.
 Birds by Kevin Henkes, Laura Dronzek The cliche about a picture saying a thousand words? You have to experience it to believe it. And during one of my recent trips to the children’s section at our library, I was lucky to stumble upon one such experience.
We happened to find the book, Birds, created by Kevin Henkes and Laura Dronzek. And let me tell you, it’s a visual treat from start to finish.
Illustrated by Laura Dronzek, vibrant colors fill its pages. Bright acrylic paintings with thick black outlines depict different kinds of birds in various settings throughout the book. They’re simple, beautiful images with no intricate detailing or embellishments. But, from the moment you open the book to the time you turn over the last page, you’ll probably have a hard time catching your breath, as each page and the visuals on it tell a hundred stories.
This simple children’s book with sparse text and generous use of primary colors will appeal to very young babies, pre-schoolers and beginner readers alike. Very few kinds of books effectively combine all the elements that are appropriate for these different age groups, and Birds is one such exceptional book.
 Read to Your Baby Narrated from a little girl’s point of view, the book is about her observation of and interaction with birds. She appears to be fascinated by their form, number, colors, shapes and habits and wonders what the sky would look like if birds painted the sky with their tail feathers as they flew. She observes how they never seem to move when you keep looking at them and when you look away for just a second, ”they were gone.” Sparingly used, yet compelling words convey the child’s curiosity, wonder, imagination and longing to be more like a bird. The book ends with her innocent and charming declaration that although she can’t fly like a bird, she can do something else that brings her closer to the birds that captivate her imagination…
 Reading to Kids Reasons to share this book with your child -
*You can enjoy it with a child of any age – the white background and bold images with minimal text are easy on the eye, yet very hard to ignore
* It gives you and your child an opportunity to appreciate art – colors, forms, shapes without being overwhelmed by intricate details or too many images
* Since there isn’t really a plot or story, there is tremendous scope for you to engage your child in a conversation – ask questions, count the birds on each page, name them, wonder what a bird might do next, identify favorites, find out the type of birds. The images are simple enough to be traced out for your child to color in on a rainy afternoon.
* It could serve as a great introduction to birds for pre-schoolers, encouraging them to observe birds everywhere.
Have you ever read to your child in a language you don’t usually read in?
It’s a parenting experience like none other. And you shouldn’t miss a chance to try it if you can.
Although my daughter is fluent in our mother tongue( Tamil), we haven’t really read many books written in Tamil with her. We’re teaching her to identify some of the alphabets and make the effort to ensure that she speaks in Tamil at home( and believe me, it’s tough, once kids start going to daycare or preschool on a regular basis and are exposed to more and more of English everyday). However, we haven’t been able to lay our hands on too many good children’s books written in Tamil. I’ve come across a few that weren’t very well produced. And the ones that I’m looking for don’t seem to be available anywhere.
However, a few days ago, I came across Pratham Books, a non-profit trust in India that offers beautiful picture books for kids in Indian languages. The best part is that some of these books are available online on Scribd, so I didn’t have to wait. I just started reading it to my daughter right away.
And boy, was it a delight to watch her!
Tamil is one of those languages that doesn’t sound exactly the same when you speak as when you write it. No matter how casual or conversational you try to make the writing sound, written Tamil always seems to come across as a little formal and ‘purer’ than spoken Tamil. As a result, when I read to my daughter from the book, the range of expressions that crossed her face went from interested to puzzled to delighted to confused to one of comprehension and wonderment. How I wish I could have captured it on video! Had I plotted her reaction on a graph, the spikes would probably have made a porcupine retreat in defeat.
What’s beautiful though – is how she loved the novelty of the experience. She may not have understood all the words at first, but that perked her interest. She could figure out the plot from the visuals, and so tried to relate the story with the images. She was intrigued by the fact that we were reading in Tamil – a language she knew well – and yet, there was something about it that she didn’t fully understand.
We read it a couple of times and I explained to her what some of the words meant. Then she asked me to read it again and seemed to enjoy the experience even better.
In all, reading Nilaavum Thoppiyum (The Moon and the Cap) and its Hindi version, Chaand ka Tohfa ( The Moon’s Gift) was a delightful, eye opening experience for both of us.
It reminded me to put more effort into exposing my daughter to Indian language books so she could begin to appreciate the richness and diversity in these languages and also to encourage her to continue to learn and use our mother tongue. As for M, she seemed to be pretty fascinated by the fact that we were reading from different scripts and pronouncing strange new words. It was almost like a game – like I was reading some secret code or posing a riddle – and she couldn’t wait to figure out what I was saying.
In their book, To Learn with Love, authors William and Constance Starr describe Dr. Suzuki’s ‘mother tongue approach’ to teaching students music. His method was based on the simple observation that babies everywhere learn their mother tongue, almost effortlessly. He observed that since babies are constantly exposed to their mother tongue, they pick it up by merely being in the environment they’re in and by repeating what they hear several hundred or thousand times. He borrows this idea and applies it to teaching music. The Suzuki method involves exposing children to music from a young age, playing recordings and encouraging repetitions. And sure enough, kids who are trained in this way for years, do go on to achieve fine musical abilities in due course with exposure, training and consistent practice.
In today’s globalized world, where we are all about leveling the playing field and creating a universal language and breaking barriers, it’s not easy to hold on to one’s mother tongue. let alone ensure that our kids do. It’s more convenient and seems more practical to allow a language to fade away than make the effort to weave it into our complex world. “Language should unite, not divide.” “Language is just a means of communication, why make such a fuss?” are some of the arguments we hear in favor of allowing languages to disappear. But, children born in bilingual and multilingual families or those whose parents know more than one language are at a natural advantage over others who don’t share their background. Various studies show the correlation between being bilingual and acquiring proficiency in other fields. Learning foreign languages also seems to be the fashionable thing to do. So, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to throw this natural advantage away, merely because it takes a little more effort to reinforce one’s mother tongue on a regular basis?
Maybe it’s time we borrowed Suzuki’s mother tongue approach and began applying it to teaching kids their mother tongue. And if your mother tongue is an Indian language, then children’s books like those from Pratham Books are a great place to start.
Have you been following the Ideas for Change in America? One of the ideas proposed under the Education category is to launch a national ‘Read to Kids’ campaign. Suggested by Everybody Wins! (Boston, MA), an organization that takes early literacy and reading skills very seriously, the idea is now among the top 3 contenders, set to compete in the final round. Of course, I’m delighted and hopeful.
Change America by reading to kids? Really?
Everybody Wins! is a national literacy and mentoring non-profit that aims to build the love of reading and reading skills among low-income students. The way they do this is by following the philosophy of one mentor, one child, one book at a time. Working professionals volunteer time once a week to participate in the Power Lunch program – a simple arrangement where volunteers spend 30 minutes reading to a child during lunch.
That’s it.
If you’re wondering if there’s really that strong a connection between reading to kids and changing a country, you’re probably not alone.
But if you take a look at the extent to which reading aloud to children impacts statistics such as the size of prisons in a state and healthcare costs, you may be in for a shock. I was amazed to learn that just reading to kids for about 20 minutes everyday could make that much of a difference in these very crucial numbers.
How 20 Minutes of Reading Changes a Child’s Life
When you think about it, it does make sense. 20 minutes may not seem like a lot, at first. And reading from a children’s book hardly seems like an intellectually stimulating activity, at least for grown-ups. But, it’s not just the act of reading itself that matters but the entire process and the various elements involved that makes an impact. When we read to kids everyday, we do a lot more than pronouce a set of words and sentences. Among other things, we help children
* form a lifelong reading habit – a key ingredient for academic success, higher education levels, acquiring new skills, employability
* develop an interest in reading – a factor crucial to learning and expanding knowledge in almost any field
* explore various subjects and areas of interest including other cultures and countries – which in turn helps to…
* develop tolerance, acceptance and a broader vision of the world
* build self esteem – by helping them transition from listening to reading along to reading independently and by showing them that we value our ‘reading time’ together
And I almost forgot to mention how it helps kids with learning a language, improving vocabulary, memory and communication skills. Which, I think, are more the byproducts of the reading process rather than the purpose.
By being consistent with, committed to and passionate about reading with our children, we become role models not just for reading, but as someone who values learning, honors commitment and is constantly open to new ideas. And the presence of such role models in a child’s life contributes largely to a child’s thoughts, aspirations, world view, beliefs and eventually to his future.
So, this Read to Kids campaign is not so much about reading as it is about creating positive role models for kids to emulate, learn from and be inspired by. And although it’s a national campaign, it starts with each of us committing ourselves to reading to kids( both ours and others who may benefit by being read to) consistently for a period of time. And if you think that’s important and that it could be a factor in changing the future of this country or maybe even the world – do take a minute to read about it and decide if you want to vote for it.
Related posts :
Raising a Generation of Readers 1
Raising a Generation of Readers 2
Nurture Compassion by Reading to Kids
My 3-year old demands to know what an earthquake is, why it happens and what will happen to all the babies trapped under the rubble in Haiti. We listen to the news as I drive her to daycare and back everyday and she puts two and two together. She watches us discuss the situation, the organizations that accept donations, the rescue efforts and developments and she wants to know more. Above all, she wants to know if she can help. And how.
On one hand, I feel incredibly proud. I’m moved by the compassion that this little thing shows for people she doesn’t know in a situation she probably doesn’t fully comprehend. I’m glad she wants to help.
On the other hand – I’m terrified. I’m not quite sure how much to tell her and how to nurture her compassion without allowing her wonderful, large, yet delicate heart to break.
Compassion – The Currency That Matters
To tell you the truth – this is exactly what we had hoped for – when my husband and I named our daughter, we chose a name that loosely translates to ‘ Universal Peace.’ It is the first word in our favorite song which is about creating a world of peace and friendship where war is shunned and compassion prevails. Call us dreamers, but, compassion is among the most important values that we hope our daughter upholds. And raising compassionate kids in an exceedingly competitive and materialistic world is proving to be quite a challenge for most parents.
So, it’s heartening to see her express concern and offer to alleviate the pain of children thousands of miles away. Yet, it’s a challenge. How do you talk to a 3 year-old child about death and suffering? And how can you avoid those subjects when she bombards you with questions? Do you just switch off all media and not expose her to any news that’s even remotely disturbing? Which is most news these days. Or do we make up stories about the darker side of life or simply change the subject to something more “child-friendly”?
It’s not easy. Parents don’t always know how to handle questions surrounding tragic situations and we all do the best we can. But the important thing to keep in mind is to give children the opportunity to express their compassion. I think that’s the most significant investment we can make in our children’s future.
If we can somehow identify and nurture that natural instinct in children to sympathize and help – we’ll likely be way better off as a civilization and will be well on our way to creating that elusive ‘better place on earth’ we keep hearing about.
Which is why it’s important to make compassion, tolerance and understanding a part of everyday life.
Compassion as a way of life.
Children mirror the world around them – which usually constitutes their parents. So, of course, it’s essential that they see these qualities in us and in our actions and the examples we set for them everyday. The manner in which we handle world news that doesn’t directly affect us, how we talk about these situations, whether we discuss how to help or donate or sign up to volunteer, whether we’re appreciative of our own lives and what we have – are all factors that shape our child’s thoughts and beliefs.
As I was writing this post, I connected with Lara Ivey who shares her thoughts on being more appreciative and encouraging kids to do the same in her beautiful post, Beyond Blessed. You’ll also find some resources and ideas on helping kids cope with and contribute to such situations.
The other important source of input for children is the printed world. Children’s books are far more powerful and leave a much deeper impact than they are usually given credit for. There’s a lot we can achieve by picking the right books and reading with our children on a regular basis. Reading to kids helps you do something interesting and almost impossible with any other method – teach without preaching. Whether it’s a story about being honest or about kindness, children’s books have a way of weaving the moral and message into the plot so kids don’t zone out when you deliver it. It is this unique characteristic of reading aloud that comes to our rescue in difficult situations such as these as well.
I believe that we can turn to children’s books not just to answer their difficult questions, but even to ask a few of our own and in the process, maybe even learn a little, with them.
How Reading to Your Baby or Child can Help Raise a Compassionate Generation
1. Pick books about other cultures, races, countries, history. Bring home a mix of children’s books on different themes and cultures. The classics, fairy tales and popular books are great. But, why not alternate them with books by authors from other countries or those translated from another language? Encourage your child to learn about children’s lives in other countries. Just becoming aware that there is so much diversity and disparity in the world is the first step towards raising a more compassionate and tolerant generation. The fact that there may not be flush toilets in houses in some countries or that children walk many miles to get to school and back may help put things in perspective, when our kids are extra-demanding or are disappointed with something. At the same time, learning about how wonderfully different those cultures are – their music, dance, literature, architecture, family structure – is both entertaining and educational for young children.
2. Read about those who didn’t live happily ever after. There’s never a good time to introduce children to the harsh realities that we try to protect them from. But, sooner or later, they’re going to learn about the not-so-happy endings of the world. Every once in a while, when you read with your kids, pick books about real people who faced extraordinarily difficult situations or tragic or disappointing events in history. These are not just stories with sad endings, but contain examples of courage, heroism, integrity, patriotism and other great qualities that you want to imbibe in your child. Age appropriateness is an important question, however, in many cases, you can use a book meant for an older reader with a younger child simply by explaining the events in your own words, showing them the pictures and asking them about what they think. Tone down or sugarcoat the details as you see appropriate – only you know how much bare truth your child is ready for.
3. Read the papers. You don’t always have to pick books to read with your kids. How about settling down with a bunch of papers or magazines and spending an afternoon talking about a certain event, situation or country? I’ve even seen some 2 year-olds respond to this kind of interaction – sometimes, they just appreciate the change from looking at illustrations and colorful pictures to real photos and visuals of places and people. They’re excited about reading from “grown-up books”. With older kids, it could turn into a very interesting afternoon project. Together, pick any topic like hurricanes, war or forest fire – anything that’s interesting to them or relevant to the current context – and read to them from different newspapers or feature articles. Not just the science and reasoning behind it but the human interest stories as well. Like the kid who never let go of his baby brother even when he almost drowned or the little girl who got lost while camping and managed to survive alone in the wild until rescue workers found her.
4. Do activities together. Find a country on the globe. Identify flags. Pretend you’re living in another country. A globe and/or a large wall world map is a must for every home with kids. (I’m ashamed to admit that I can’t name some of the countries and capitals that my little nieces and nephews can.) Learning about countries, their locations and history is important for children to understand the nature of our world and how we are constantly evolving as a civilization and how interdependent we all are. Get a good world atlas and read parts of it with your child often. Come up with fun crafts and activities together.
5. Discuss and read about ways you can help. It’s great that the Haiti earthquake has spurred relief efforts and donations from so many of us. In many families, children are stepping up – offering to part with their allowances or piggy bank savings. News stations are brimming with stories of young children raising thousands of dollars for Haiti relief. This is the silver lining to an otherwise horrific and overwhelming situation – we have the opportunity to encourage and witness our children’s compassion and generosity. Making volunteering and donating to charities a regular practice is a great way for a family to engage in an activity together, to bond and to evolve together. So, whenever possible, read to your child about volunteering, non-profit organizations that help various causes, about their efforts and how people can contribute. Read, discuss and act. Even a three year old can be encouraged to give away clothes or toys to a kid who needs them.
Children are naturally compassionate. Underneath their impish smiles and adorable faces, lies an ocean of empathy, love, tenderness and generosity just waiting to be uncovered and utilized. It’s up to us – parents and educators – to recognize, acknowledge and encourage them to express their humane side and to use their gifts for greater causes.
 Children's Storybooks that entertain and teach What has reading to your baby got to do with disciplining her or tackling potty training?
A lot more than you might imagine.
Whether you’re dealing with the terrible twos, terrific threes or other stages in between or haven’t yet figured out how to get your picky eater to well…pick a meal and eat it, you’ll be surprised to find an unlikely friend in your baby’s book shelf.
Books prove to be quite effective and helpful in coaxing children into doing things they don’t want to do. They provide parents a way of getting their fussy kids to cooperate without having to resort to the frequently futile lecture mode.
I think the authors of children’s books are either insanely wicked-smart or have wised-up with parenting experience. Either way – they seem to know what they’re dealing with when they write books about dinosaurs eating healthy or being polite or a little, determined engine climbing an impossible mountain. The best part is – now all you and I have to do is to find these gems and read them to our little guys and gals when the situation demands it. Of course, you may not find success the first time or even the first dozen times. But rest assured, reading to your kids about everyday situations that they can relate to and showing them how their favorite dinosaur, giant red dog or bespectacled character handled a situation or acted in a certain way brings you a lot closer to accomplishing your mission – be it potty training, a lesson in politeness or helping kids overcome separation anxiety.
You don’t have to take my word for it though, for, each child, situation and family is different. And both you and I know that no two days or experiences in the parenting universe are the same. But the next time you are faced with a difficult situation that involves your kid, why not give reading to your child about a similar or related incident a shot? It just might help. Besides, if you’ve faced a check-out lane crisis at the supermarket or lived through one of Junior’s screaming episodes at the popular, neighborhood restaurant – you don’t even have your dignity or reputation at stake. So, there’s nothing to lose and maybe a solution in sight.
So, go ahead – pick up one(or more) of these delightful books and read it with your child. Will your problems vanish and your child undergo a dramatic behavioral change? Of course not. (And gosh, I hope not!) But you will have, together, discovered a few different ways to deal with the little challenges you face as a parent. And maybe along the way, if you’re lucky, you will have instilled in your child a love of reading and sowed the seeds to a lifelong habit that’s incredibly hard to break.
Baby books to the rescue – Here’s a list of children’s books – some old favorites and a few you may not have heard of – that you may find helpful in dealing with the common challenges of parenting, especially with younger kids. Of course, this is nowhere near an exhaustive list. Please feel free to add to it with your suggestions.
Title: The Little Engine that Could
Creators: Watty Piper and Cristina Ong
Helps with: Encouraging kids to persevere, be helpful, kind and friendly and to never give up . Especially helps when kids are frustrated with a difficult puzzle or can’t figure out something by themselves. Give this book a few casual readings and when you see them ready to give up or feeling overwhelmed with something, offer a gentle reminder. Even chanting the mantra ” I think I can” with them, when dealing with a challenging task, may help.
Title: The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Creator: Eric Carle
Helps with: Teaching kids to eat healthy, the connection between eating and development and about transitions.
Title: How do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food
Creators: Jane Yolen, Mark Teague
Helps with: Teaching kids table manners, being polite and coaxing picky eaters at meal time. Also, check out the other books in this series.
Title: Raccoon On His Own
Creator: Jim Arnosky
Helps with: Easing separation anxiety, especially when kids start daycare or school. A beautiful book about a baby raccoon unwillingly separated from his family only to be reunited with them at the end of his unexpected, but exciting adventure.
Title: A Potty for Me – A Lift-the-Flap Instruction Manual
Creator: Karen Katz
Helps with: Potty training, of course. What happens when mom gets a brand new potty for her baby but he is not quite ready to use it, yet? A simple book that coaxes kids into the process, gently and naturally.
Title: Ready for Anything
Creator: Keiko Kasza
Helps with: Encouraging optimism, a positive attitude and teaches kids about the importance of being well-prepared. A tale of two friends who, after almost cancelling their picnic, manage to overcome their fears of what might happen and eventually have a great day out.
Title: I’m Going to be a Big Brother/ I’m Going to Be a Big Sister
Creators: Brenda Bercun, Sue Gross
Helps with: Coping with the arrival of a new sibling. By telling them the important role they have to play as big brother or sister and how everybody loves them just as much as before their little sibling arrived, these books make great gifts for the older child when the new baby arrives.
Title: Tilly and the Rhinoceros
Creator: Sheila White Samton
Helps with: Showing kids to be compassionate and give unconditionally, like Tilly Gobble the kind goose. The book depicts an unlikely friendship that develops between the kind Tilly and Gregor the bully. It’s also a great book to share with your kids when you want to discourage them from bullying.
Title: Yes We Can!
Creators: Sam Mcbratney and Charles Fuge
Helps with: Teaching kids about their special talents and individuality and how they can combine their gifts to work and play together. When Kangaroo, Duck and Mouse set out to outdo each other at what the other is good at, everyone ends up disappointed and grumpy. But, with a little encouragement from Mommy Kangaroo, when each does what he is best at, they quickly turn the day around and have fun just as they planned to. This book offers a way to tackle sibling fights and is a good choice to take along on play dates too.
What if?
Ah! The universal question that puts a damper on pretty much anything you ever want to do.
How many childhood dreams and adventures have we all given up, not daring to follow through because of this very question sneaking its way into our eager, curious minds…either because someone planted it there or it just sort of weaved its way in somehow?
On the other hand…how many fantastic discoveries have been made because of this very question? Because someone took the fear out of it and put the wonder back in ‘What if’.
If you think about it, I’m sure you’ll trace pretty much every memorable experience, adventure or event that you can think of to a ‘What if’…either in a good, wouldn’t-have-missed-it-for-the-world way or a regretful, why-did-I-ever-listen-to-them-and-not-to-my-heart way.
As you turn the colorful pages of Ready for Anything by Keiko Kasza, with your child, you’ll discover together how easy it is to turn things around simply by asking a set of What if’s!
Buddies Raccoon and Duck are almost ready for a picnic when one of them comes up with some of the scariest situations that might ruin their day. Just when they decide that picnics are way too dangerous for them and opt to stay home hidden beneath the safety of their blankets, the other wonders…What if none of those horrible things were to happen? Instead what if all that’s in store for them is a beautiful day with a picnic-basket full of fun – just the way they had planned? Their enthusiasm returns as they visualize a wonderful day out and encouraged by pleasant thoughts, they do end up going on their picnic after all.
Things are going well until one of them realizes he’s forgotten a huge detail! But, luckily the other – is ready for anything.
Ready for Anything is a great book to read aloud with your child for many reasons. First of all, it’s interesting. It takes you into the workings of a child’s mind via the two friends in the book – one of whom is afraid horrible things might happen and the other imagines just the opposite. It’s not just a great read for kids, but a charming, simple reminder to us grown-ups to replace some of the negative What-ifs that prevent us from enjoying the lighter moments in life with a few positive ones. Camouflaged beneath the simple, child-friendly plot lie layers of sub-text reflecting how we think, why we don’t take risks and how by choosing to imagine the worst, we often miss out on the best. I love the way this book is designed and written to appeal to very little ones as well as to older children and parents who read to them. The illustrations capture the vivid details visualized by the two friends, bringing the characters and their worlds – real and imagined – alive.
Whether to encourage your child to try a new hobby or to alleviate her pre-school separation anxieties or just to enjoy a good read with her – Ready for Anything lives up to its title.
Additional activities to try with your child -
- Talk about a picnic your child would like to go on. Come up with a few What if’s together. (Try the same for any situation – first day of school, first swimming lesson, first weekend away from parents with a grandparent or relative)
- What does Raccoon bring to the picnic? How many can you/ your child remember without looking at the book?
- Think of a situation where each of those items may come in handy.
- Which of the ‘What if’s’ do you think really happened on their picnic? Whose version was closer to what actually took place?
Dashka Slater, Nancy Tafuri, Eric Carle, Jim Arnosky, Sheila White Samton, Bob Staake.
I don’t really know them. But I think if my 3 yr old daughter met them on the street, she’d most likely give them a hug. Or two. You see, they’re a part of her life now. She comes across their names every now and then. She knows what they do. She likes what they write. They’re the people she probably dreams about because they’re the ones who bring drama, emotion, adventure, fun, wonderment, imagination and a love of reading into her life.
They’re the authors of some of her favorite books.
When you read a book with your baby, do you pay attention to who wrote it?
I didn’t, at first. Initially, when M and I cuddled up with a book, I’d usually read out the title and then move on to the first page, ignoring the other elements on the cover. It wasn’t intentional, of course. I just didn’t know any better. It didn’t occur to me back then to point to the author and illustrator’s names on the cover. The act of reading aloud to my baby in itself was a new, joyous experience and I didn’t really think about it that much. It was amazing to me that someone in the world was (apparently)so enamored by my voice and read aloud skills that she actually calmed down, stopped fussing and listened to what I was reading. Wow. It wasn’t until later, when M started pointing to words and pictures in the jacket and began asking who those people were that I realized that maybe I didn’t deserve all the credit after all! I had been keeping her in the dark about the creators of the books she so loved.
It was then that I decided to start giving credit where it was due. With every book we pick up now, we first read the title, followed by the author’s and illustrator’s names and their bios, before beginning the story.
You won’t believe what a difference this has made to our reading experience.
I’ve noticed this in other kids too as I’m sure you have. Show your kid something once and well, you had better be ready to do it forever. Or at least a few hundred thousand times.
Now, every time we pick out a book, M wants to know who the author is. Who drew the pictures? Where do they live? What do they look like? She has begin to connect and relate. When we pick out a book by a familiar author, she can tell. Sometimes, she remembers the name. Or has some vague recollection of it at the very least. She makes connections between the author and other names we come across. We were reading a book the other day and came across a character whose name was Eric…and I tell you – I couldn’t proceed a word without first answering her questions about Eric Carle and whether this was the same person and why we were calling someone else by that name when clearly, he’s not the Eric we know.
These days, I couldn’t skip the author’s name even if I wanted to. She’ll know. She’ll pound me with questions. If we read something, anything, she wants to know who wrote it.
I think this is fantastic. Frustrating sometimes, but fantastic. It’s like she’s realized that books don’t just magically appear out of nowhere. People create them. This discovery, in my opinion, is crucial to a child.
Talking about the creators of a book is a great way to introduce your kids to the idea of writing. And art.
Equipped with the knowledge that a person somewhere wrote the words in the book and drew the beautiful pictures on the pages, kids begin to see a whole new dimension to the rectangular object in their hands.
Knowing that someone thought of the words and images to tell the story helps kids appreciate books. And enjoy a fuller reading experience. To me, it’s like when I read to M, she imagines the author(whose picture we would have looked at and whose name we would have memorized by then) telling her the story. Before we begin, she always wants to know, “Who’s the author?”. Maybe she just likes the word ‘ author’ …or maybe she’s got it mixed up with Arthur from the Arthur and DW series. Or maybe she really understands. Whatever it is that’s going on in that brain of hers..only she knows.
All I know is she’s added ‘Author’ to the list of things she wants to be when she’s a ‘big girl’. And I’m mighty pleased about that.
Do you talk about a book’s creators when you read with your children?
Reading to Kids Besides Your Own
(contd from Raising a Generation of Readers 1)
So, we’ve established that reading to kids is important. Not just our own kids, but to those who don’t have the benefit of being raised in an environment which comprises of books and reading.
There is no question – if we want our kids to inherit a better world, we had better begin equipping them with the tools today. And, among other things, improving literacy levels ought to be our number one priority.
So, besides reading to our kids everyday, exposing them to different kinds of books and knowledge and providing them opportunities to learn and expand their minds – what else needs to be done in order to raise the generation of readers that will make this possible? In other words, what specific actions can each of us – parents, educators, librarians and anybody interested in creating such a world – take?
Plenty. Regardless of the time on your hands, your skills, interests or motivation, there is always something you can do about spreading literacy around you, be it small or significant.
Whether we spare 30 minutes a day or 1 hour per week – the time we choose to spend in helping kids(besides our own) learn to read is probably among the best investments we make towards our children’s future.
1.Believe that it’s NEVER too late to start. Yes, it’s true that kids should be read to from an early age and that they benefit most when they are exposed to books and language at home since birth. And yes, most of the nerve connections in a child’s brain are formed by the time he turns 5 and his brain, up until that age acts like a sponge – under ideal conditions, he would have been read to countless times by that golden age. However, just because a child missed out on reading for the first few years doesn’t mean that he has to miss out for the rest of his life. If you know a child who hasn’t been read to since he was a baby or a family where kids are not exposed to reading – do your best to encourage them to start. Now. Reading, no matter how late you begin, improves things.
2.Volunteer your time and skills. Become a reading mentor. If you enjoy reading to your children and have seen them benefit from the process, why not share the experience with other children who may not have access to books or people who read to them? Several organizations provide you the opportunity to volunteer just an hour of your time every week to read to children from low income families or who are at a high risk for dropping out of school, taking to drugs or crime or simply choosing lives they don’t really deserve. It’s hard to imagine that 30-45 minutes of your time a week will make any difference to these kids, but you’d be surprised at how eagerly kids start looking forward to these sessions, how well they respond to your reading and how this seemingly insignificant gesture on your part could improve their chances of staying in school and opting for better lives. A list and description of various organizations and programs that you could volunteer with warrants a separate post – but just to mention some of them – Everybody Wins Power Lunch( spend 30 mins of your lunch hour a week reading to a child), Reach out and Read (among other things, volunteers read to children in waiting rooms, organize community book drives, build bookcases), Communities in Schools After School program( Help kids prepare for life by providing homework help and reading to them for about an hour every week) You could also do this on your own for kids in your community, if you don’t want to commit to a particular organization or program. But I find that doing it through an organization has many benefits – it is regulated, you have a common place to meet, a set time for reading, coordinators you can discuss issues with and books always readily available to read.
3. Donate children’s books – new and old. One of the most important factors affecting literacy is access to books. In low income neighborhoods in the United States, there is only one age appropriate book available for every 300 children. (Source: FirstBook) So, when it’s time to clear out the clutter in your child’s bedroom, the attic or in your garage, have a plan for salvaging and separating children’s books, categorizing them and boxing them so you can donate them to kids who could use them. There are several places you could donate used books that redistribute them to needy children. Alternatively, if you know kids or families that would benefit from those books, you could donate directly to them. But, unless there is someone in the family who can read the books to the children, this may not be of much use. So, even if you donate books,spending your time reading to those kids is still important. Of course, if you’d like to and can afford to donate new books – even better.
4. Encourage your kids to read to others. It’s no secret – kids are mirrors. If they watch you reading to other kids or know that you donate your time for the purpose, they’re bound to be inspired to do the same. If your kids are reading at or above grade level, encourage them to read to/with their classmates or peers who could use some reading help.
5. Read to your child’s class. If your child is in elementary school, your child’s teacher may be more than happy to have you volunteer in her class every week. Even if you can’t volunteer with an organization, try committing an hour or so a week to your child’s class. You could either offer to help a handful of kids with reading, or read to the class as a whole, depending on what the teacher prefers, the reading levels of children in the class and how much time you can commit each week.
6. Start a reading program at a library or community center – Your local library will most probably have story time sessions for babies and preschoolers. Check with the youth services librarian if you can start a program to help older kids to read or expand on an existing program. You could start a weekly reading session and invite older kids who have difficulty reading or who don’t have access to books or reading mentors to participate. You could even use the library to interact with kids individually, tutor them and help them with reading. Work with your librarian, parents and teachers in your area to come up with a program that will benefit kids with regards to reading.
7. Read about reading to kids. Write about reading to kids. Talk about reading to kids. No matter how much you know or do, you know there’s more that could be done. If you’re truly interested in and passionate about raising a generation of readers and thinkers, keep looking for ways to make reading accessible and pleasurable to children. Use any platform you have to your advantage – blog and tweet about why it’s important to read to children, write to an editor of a magazine or newspaper, talk to your friends, join ‘groups’ or become a ‘fan’ and use whatever medium and technique you’re comfortable with to share your interest in raising enthusiastic readers.
8. Hold reading events at home, the park or at the library. In an earlier post about why it’s never too late to start reading to your kids, I suggested a few fun ways to get older kids interested in reading. Use whatever works for you in your efforts to help kids with reading. Meet other parents and kids at the park, library or a picnic area and have a reading party. Reading to kids in an informal, outdoor environment may help them overcome inhibitions associated with school work or required reading, especially if they have difficulty with it.
9. Help kids start or join a book club. Guide them. Encourage participation from kids of all reading levels and not just those who read above their grade levels. Help kids select books that appeal to reluctant readers. Ask your librarian for book recommendations. Be open to stopping a book mid-way and switching to a new one if it doesn’t ignite interest in the group. Encourage interaction, provide directions for discussion, ask questions, suggest alternative answers – your goal is simply to get the kids excited about the idea of reading. For very young children, a book club could simply be a version of a story time where you encourage other parents to bring their children to a certain venue every week and read aloud to them from various books, tell them stories and even show parents by example, how to read with their kids. Or you could just help spread the word about story time sessions at the library or book store in your community. I’m always surprised by how many parents I talk to aren’t aware of or simply do not have the inclination to bring their kids to these free reading sessions.
10. Talk to friends and family about steps 1-9 and encourage them to adopt as many as they can or would like to.
By adopting these or any other measure, if each of us make just a little impact on a few children during the course of a lifetime, and manage to encourage friends and family to do the same, we might actually be closer to creating a better, more literate world for our kids. Laughable? Maybe. Anyone who has ever tried to do any good, wonders at some point, “Will this really make a difference? Is this enough? A drop in the ocean!”
I’m no exception – I often wonder if these 30 minute reading or tutoring sessions will really have any impact on kids. Will those 30 minutes spent with books make a difference to the other countless hours spent away from them?
I’m not always convinced, but I have to believe that it does make a difference.
Studies show that even with a late start, children who are read to and who have a positive mentor or role model in their lives, have a better chance of going on to complete school and enroll in college and lead better, healthier, more fulfilling lives than their counterparts who don’t have the experience. When we remember that the idea, to start out with, is to get kids enthusiastic about and interested in reading, learning and books, and not so much about grades or instant improvement in academic results – we may begin to view things in perspective. So, remember – if you start today and read to a child, albeit an older child, once a day or week, by the end of the year he would have been read to 365 times. Or at least 52 times.
Which is way better than 0. No matter how old the kid is.
My husband has this weird benchmark when it comes to measuring anything – he says, look at it terms of a calendar year – 365 days. And pretty much like the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding whose solution to every problem is Windex, my husband’s answer to almost any frustration or problem is – give it a year and see how it turns out.
Me: I don’t think I like this new city. I want to go back. Him: Give it a year and then we’ll see.
Me: I’m sure this new project won’t work out. Him: Give it a year and then we’ll see.
Me: I’ll never be able to potty train M. It’s just impossible. Him: Why don’t we keep trying and check back in a year.
And sure enough, when I look back a year later, I’ve almost always managed to accomplish what I believed to be impossible 365 days ago. And at time, it seems ridiculous that I was ready to give up even before I had begun.
So, I’m thinking – Maybe, if we all worked at it, our little efforts and baby steps at spreading literacy and raising readers will pay off after all.
What do you think we can do to raise a generation of readers?
You could probably come up with hundreds of reasons why books make the most wonderful gifts. Classics, picture books, board books, bedtime stories, fairy tales…how great is it that you’ll NEVER run out of choices when picking out a book as a gift?
But if I had the time and was looking for a really special gift for a child, I’d probably go with a personalized book, especially for milestone occasions. In my search for unique and meaningful gifts for children in my family, I chanced upon I See Me a couple of years ago. The brain child of Maia and Allan Haag, this website sells personalized children’s story books. If you haven’t considered buying personalized books before or have been looking for a source of very high quality, classy personalized children’s gifts, you should definitely check out I See Me!
Last week, I had a chat with Maia Haag, mom of three, co-creator of I See Me and author of personalized children’s books. In this interview, she shares her thoughts on her company, her kids and why she thinks personalized books are so important for kids.
 Creators of Personalized Children's Books How did you come up with the idea for I See Me ? What is the story behind all these children’s stories?
I was working at General Mills in a marketing position and really wanted to start my own business. I had gone to business school and come back to General Mills and was anxious to start my own business. I was looking for an idea to start a business and I knew I wanted it to be something to do with children. And I was looking for some sort of product that would take advantage of my husband’s creative skills -he’s a graphic designer – and also leverage his printing connections. And so I was thinking about greeting cards or some sort of printed products. Then my husband and I received a personalized story book for our first child when I was on maternity leave. And that was the light bulb – because I looked at the personalized product and my husband and I both thought – we can create personalized books with higher quality, better illustrations and better writing and it was a great idea for starting a business. So that’s the beginning of the story. I had a six month maternity leave and I spent the last three months of that maternity leave working on the idea for the first book which was My Very Own Name and started to write the story. Then I left my job at General Mills. I went and spoke to the president of my division and told him that I was leaving to start my own children’s book business. He thought I was a little bit crazy.(laughs) I spent the next three months after that writing the business plan and that’s how it started.
How do you come up with the story ideas for all the books? What’s the process like?
Well, I knew we wanted a book that was focused on the child’s name in the story and so everyday I would take our newborn in a stroller around the lakes of Minneapolis and think of different book ideas as I was walking around the lake. Then I would come home and share different ideas with Allen. The one about the animals bringing the alphabets that spell the child’s name really stuck. We thought that was unique and would be a great way to focus on the name.
…All the animals you picked out and their illustrations – they really each have a story of their own.
Yes, Allan and I worked together and for each animal we sat down and defined whether it would be a boy or a girl and what its personality would be, what it would be doing and where and then we gave those directions to the illustrator who would then sketch it and that’s how we created all the animals.
 Personalized Chilldren's Storybook Is the process pretty much the same for all the other books?
Well, for 6 years, we only had that one book – My Very Own Name. And my focus was really on building the operations side of the business and getting distribution for the books and marketing. Then, we finally got to the point where we really needed a new product to grow the business. I noticed that year at Halloween that a lot of girls were coming to the door dressed as princesses and fairies. And that was the inspiration behind the second book – My Very Own Fairy Tale.
Do you have a personal favorite among all your books?
Wow, I’ve never been asked that before. Probably, my favorite book out of all of them is actually The World According to Me. Which is a book that features the child’s own illustrations and the child’s own answers to questions. And the reason I love that so much is because the child gets such a kick out of seeing their own illustrations in the story and it’s really fun reading the book to the child – the words that they wrote. And it’s a keepsake that I think will be really fun for our kids to have when they’re older. 
Yes, and I like how the book engages the child in the writing process and through the book the child and his family learn about each other. So, tell me, why do you think personalized books are important? How are the different from any other book – say classics or just books in general which are considered great gifts for children? Why are personalized books even more special?
I think personalized books are fabulous for children because they encourage the child to want to read that book over and over again. They hear their own name in the story. A personalized book really engages the child because it’s such a personal story that’s about them. That’s the primary reason. The second reason is that personalized books build self esteem in children – especially because we’ve made it a point to create stories that boost self esteem in children, which make them feel that they’re really special and unique.
How do we purchase a personalized book from your website? Please describe the process.
It’s very easy – you just go to our website – www.iseeme.com and provide the child’s first name, last name and birth date and the dedication that you would like to include in the book in the title page. And we take that information and we make the books. So it’s very easy to order, and also very friendly and personalized. With the World According To book and we also have a new one called the You and Me book – with these two books – you order a kit that has everything you need in it – to provide the answers to questions, drawings, photos and there’s a mailing envelope to mail the materials out to us. So we make it as easy as possible for the person who’s doing the book and we do all the work to layout the book, type set the answers and produce a beautifully designed book. They get the book back about three weeks later.
What are your thoughts on reading to children? Any tips and advice for parents and educators on how to read, what books to pick?
Yes, for very young children it’s important to find books that are colorful with their illustrations, that rhyme. Rhyming is important because it helps children learn the sounds of the English language. Before they learn all the words, they start getting interested in the sounds of the language. Finding a book that builds self esteem in the child and shows a child from an early age that he or she is very special. Many books have a message of one sort or another. It’s a question of finding a book that has a strong message that you’d like to teach your child.
It’s important to understand the child’s reading levels, that you get a book that has the right number of words on a page, so that they continue to be engaged.
Besides I See Me books, what are some of your favorite children’s books, your recommendations for young children?
We love Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar because it’s interactive. Our kids have always loved putting their fingers in the holes on the pages. We turn to so many books and they like different books different nights – let me think. Both of our boys love Cars and Truck that Go by Richard Scarry because they’re interactive and a lot of things to find on each page. We’ve actually incorporated that in our book My Very Own Fairy Take – there’s a fairy on each page for the child to find. It makes the book more fun for the child and makes them want to read it that much more. And The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg is another favorite.
Do you have any plans to create personalized books in other languages – since there are so many children coming from bilingual or multilingual families and it’s important for children to be read to in their mother tongue?
Yes, we have been evaluating that and when it’s the right time we will. It involves not only translating the books but also developing a marketing and distribution plan to get the books into the right places. One challenge in translating the books is that they’re all written in rhyme. So it’s not as simple as straightforward translation. We would have to completely rewrite the books if we wanted them written in rhyme in the other language. So, the short answer is Yes and we’ve been sort of deciding when is the right time to do that.
Do you have any interesting experiences to share with regards to I See Me books and your children?
A: With all three of our children, when we’ve read My Very Own Name, they’ve all fully believed that they’re the one in the bassinet in the beginning of the book and that makes the books so much fun. Our daughter loves My Very Own Fairy Tale and she likes to point to the girl at the back of the book – whose back is to us so that it could be any girl. She talks about the fact that it’s her and that she’s about to sit on the throne. So, it’s very fun for us as a family to watch our children see themselves in the story.
And you do have a new book with the holiday theme…
A Christmas Bear for Me – I was just thinking about that one. That one has also been a very popular one. One thing I’d like to share is that our son Austin, who’s 11, has become a key part of our product development. He reviews all of our books before we finalize them to look at it from a child’s perspective. And he has made some significant recommendations to us that we have used to make our books even better. For example, with A Christmas Bear for Me, we were planning on including a Certificate of Ownership for the bear and it was his idea to instead include a letter from Santa, because that would be more important to a child than a Certificate of Ownership of the Bear. And for example we had an illustration of all the stockings on the mantelpiece on the night before Christmas. And they had some candy in them and he was the one who noticed that the stockings shouldn’t have anything in them yet because it was still the night before Christmas. So, he sees things that we don’t always see. We have three kids who are 11, 8 and 3. So we read books at different levels at home which has helped in the product development.
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So, if you’re looking for a perfect gift for your kids, nephews, nieces or other children – pay I See Me a visit. And be prepared for the widest grin and the loudest squeal of delight when your gift is opened. If nothing else, at least, you won’t have to worry about giving the exact same gift as someone else. And I think it’s safe to assume that your gift won’t be forgotten or lost amidst a sea of plastic toys any time soon.
Raising a better, smarter, more compassionate generation starts with reading to your baby from an early age, but it certainly doesn’t stop there.
Why reading to your baby everyday isn’t enough
We know that reading to babies and interacting with them is one of the greatest gifts we can give them. The love of reading is the gift that empowers them for life. The experience of hearing and watching print come to life is the foundation for almost every kind of learning. And since you’re reading this post, it is safe to assume that you are already giving your child this incredibly important gift.
However, according to studies, in almost 50% of American families, children are not read to even for the recommended minimum number of minutes a week. I can only guess what the percentage may be in lesser developed nations.
So, unless literacy conscious people like us reach out to the millions of kids out there whose parents aren’t reading this blog or any other for that matter, who for reasons known best to them – circumstance, affordability, or the inability to read themselves – do not give their children this crucial and priceless gift, it’s clear that they won’t benefit from it.
Just think. Millions of kids growing up without knowing what it is to be read to, without experiencing the joys of reading, the freedom and thrill that, as far as these kids are concerned, remains trapped within the world of books. For every minute you spend reading to your child and every new book you bring home to read to your baby – there are probably tens of thousands of kids out there who are missing out on that experience.
Time spent not reading as a child is related to problems in adult life
And it’s anybody’s guess what those kids are doing in that time and what alternative experiences they are being exposed to. The fact that high crime rates, high healthcare costs, poverty and various other social problems are directly related to one’s literacy levels, especially early literacy efforts, speaks for itself.
So, basically, while you’re cuddled up reading to your kid, enriching his vocabulary, helping him form nerve connections in his brain, making him smarter, reading him stories about being kind, diligent, perseverant, honest and helpful and hoping that it will all impact his life for the better – his counterparts elsewhere are undergoing experiences that probably lie on the other end of the spectrum.
While you may be doing your best to raise a responsible, intelligent, thoughtful child who loves to read and learn, there are other kids, maybe in your own backyard – who, simply by virtue of where they are born, may be growing up to be everything you don’t want your child to be.
And although these kids may be strangers to us today, we need to remember that they will grow up sharing the same world with our kids.
These are the very kids that your baby is likely to encounter later in his life – at school, on the streets, while shopping or as he takes his commuter train to work.
Which leads us to the point of social responsibility
When it comes to education and literacy, what do you consider your responsibility? That your children learn to spell and read, that they go to the best schools you can afford to send them to, bring home grades that make you proud, that you help them with their math homework or find the best tutor who can and ensure that they develop a well-rounded personality that will set them up for a productive life? Great. But, is that enough?
Does our responsibility to our kids stop with merely educating them and ensuring that they have the skills to lead successful lives?
What of the dozens of kids in your son’s school whose parents simply don’t know how to, can’t afford to or are unable to spend as much time with them? (Let alone read to them.)Who don’t have the benefit of being surrounded by well-educated family members? Or whose lives have been predetermined by who their parents are and not by their own potential or desire to succeed? Who is responsible for them?
Why, we are, of course!
The answer isn’t immediately obvious. We all have enough to worry about without having to worry about strangers’ kids as it is. I mean, we barely squeeze time to spend with our own kids in the first place. So, how can we possibly be bothered about others we hardly even know? We are even aware of their existence only because our child happens to share a classroom or school bus with them. So why would we worry about who’s reading to them and even if they have a positive influence in their lives? And even if we wanted to, how could we possibly help?
Let’s talk about the Why, first
Leaving aside philanthropy for a minute – although I’m sure many of us agree that that too, should be an integral part of our lives – let’s look at this from a completely selfish point of view.
We should care about kids who don’t have the benefit of being exposed to books and reading because those are the kids that will grow up into adults whom our children will interact with. Wouldn’t your child be better off living in a world surrounded by peers who value reading, learning and intelligent discussions, who have had the enriching experience of being read to when young? Who enjoy reading themselves? Who are well-read, open-minded, expressive, articulate, creative, kind hearted and thoughtful?
Of course you would.
But how can you provide your child such an environment when at least half the kids in his own country are deprived of the benefits he enjoys, with respect to early literacy? These are some statistics compiled on The Literacy Gap, a report published by Everybodywins – a national literacy and mentoring nonprofit that hopes to create an impact with one mentor, one child and one book at a time.
* In the US, the typical middle-class child enters first grade with 1,000-1,700 hours of picture book reading time; a low-income with 25.
* Only 50% of low-income 4th graders read at or above the basic level compared to 79% of their middle-class peers, according to the Department of Education’s 2007 Nation’s Report Card.
* According to Dr. G. Reid Lyon, Chief of Child Development and Behavior at the National Institute of Health, “surveys of adolescents and young adults with criminal records indicate that at least half have reading difficulties, and in some states the size of prisons a decade in the future is predicted by fourth grade reading failure rates.”
* $500 billion: Annual cost to the U.S. economy of children growing up poor, a result of eventual lower productivity and earnings, higher crime rates and health costs
So, with all that in the background, how can we help but wonder – what can we do to create the kind of world we want for our kids?
The answer to this question could fill hundreds of books and still be incomplete.
How do you spread the gift of reading?
When it comes to giving children the gift of reading – the one gift that is likely to lead them to all the others – there are specific actions each of us can take to enrich the lives of children, not just our own, but hundreds, maybe thousands of others who desperately need the gift to succeed and to lead fulfilling lives.
What can you and I do to spread the gift of reading? How can we raise a generation of readers?
To be continued…
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