By the time my son was born, he already had a bookshelf full of books. What else would you expect from a baby whose mother teaches English? Since he was my first child, I really had little knowledge of what one was "supposed" to read to a newborn. As far as I can tell, it doesn't matter if you read Sports Illustrated, The Economist, The Bible or the dictionary to a newborn; they just love to hear your voice, and I operate under the theory that limiting a baby's exposure to new and challenging words (assuming that he will not understand) is to do him a disservice. Neither my husband nor I have shied away from books that were "too advanced" for him, and I can see that it is paying off.
Having now praised the benefits of high-level texts, let me go back to the basics: those building blocks to communication: letters. ABC books. I confess to having no fewer than fifteen different alphabet books, and that's not counting the Sesame Street series of 26 books (one for each letter). By the way, those books are incredible, and Xander loves them: the familiar characters, the rhymes, the silliness, everything, and I give that series of books a lot of credit for Xander's interest in words and reading.
A few other ABC books for super young readers that you won't mind reading over and over:
Animal Action ABC by Karen Pandell, Handprint Books- I love this one for several reasons. All of the ABCs match up to action words. Kids are inundated with nouns; it's wonderful to provide a book of 26 great verbs like charge, inflate, and leap! Each letter/action word is accompanied by a full color photo of an animal in action, in addition to a picture of a child doing the same thing. In our family, reading this book would often require all of us attempting the suggested action, as well. This was, and still is, one of Xander's favorites.
The Elephant Alphabet by Gene Yates, Kidsbooks- This one is really funny. Every page depicts a boldly colored elephant trying to mold himself into the shape of a particular letter. The caption for each picture contains several words containing the particular letter: "G elephant gulps garlic and turns green."
All of these books have enhanced Xander's ability to hear letter sounds. Early on, he was able to identify the first letters of words he didn't even know. To encourage this, we enunciated letter sounds, played quiz-type games, looked at other books and fun flash cards, and showed him what words look like as we read. I also have to give props to a DVD from Leap Frog called The Letter Factory. Xander loved it, and the songs stuck with him.
Last, if you've had it with a particular book, just put it away for awhile. "Find" it again later; your child will be excited and happy, and you may even like it again, yourself.
Christie Stockstill
Let God Handle It
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