reading tips for toddlers and babies

Mama’s Corner: What Makes a Book Stick?

Recently I noticed an interesting trend in the books that my children request me to read over and over again: bad.

Yes, my children enjoy bad books.

At first I thought that they had just inherited their father’s taste in literature, but then I realized that it had a little to do with me, too.  Whenever I happen to bring home a bad book from the library, I cringe the first time I read it.  With awkward rhyme, uninspiring illustrations, terrible (or no) story line, each page is worse than the last.  After I get over the initial urge to toss it into the return pile, I try to find something redeeming about it.  It was published after all, so someone must have found something worthwhile in it.

I think: Can I add voices?  Can I add sound effects?  Can I act it out?  Can I sing it?

I’ll try one or the other, occasionally all four, but somewhere along the way, something magical happens and my kids fall in love with the delivery.

The book sticks.

Our most recent example was originally a song by Ziggy Marley (Bob Marley’s son) that was then turned into a picture book: I Love You, Too.  It was pretty terrible at first read, but when I sang it to Luke and Brynn, they loved it.  I made up my own melody, but there’s no reason that one couldn’t listen to the song online or use an existing melody.

There is also something beautiful about singing a song with the refrain of “I love you, too.”  We all tell our children that we love them, but it has been amazing to have those words sung in bits and pieces all day long, week after week.  They became the soundtrack to our December, January, and February.

That “bad book” gave me an excellent excuse to cuddle with my kids and share my love for reading and music with them, and in my book, that’s pretty good.

 

 

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Reading Tip: Engaging Children in Books Through Beautiful (or, in my case, awful) Song

Aaaaand now for the newest song by morebooksmama co-author, LUKE!  WOOOOO! YEAH!  ROCK OUT, LUKE!

Sung to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star:

Mama cannot sing a lick.

She sounds like a duck that’s sick.

Dada’s voice is even worse.

He can’t sing a single verse.

I still like it when they try.

‘Cause singing makes words dance and fly.

Thank you, thank you very much!

I love music, and I know that I’m not alone.  Most kids love singing songs and dancing to music.  My Mama knows this, too, so one of the things that she enjoys doing is using music to make books more interesting.  She goes about integrating music in a few different ways:

1) She uses familiar songs to sing books that aren’t musical: My favorite example of this one is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?  by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle.  We sing the words to Twinkle, Twinkle.  Setting the words to music helps to emphasize their rhythmic nature and makes them more appealing.

2) She finds books that have songs built into the text: Many of my favorite books have music written into the stories.  Mama enjoys making up her own tunes, but there are also recordings of many of the books online.  Sometimes music plays a big role, as in Perfect Piggies!by Sandra Boynton, where the book is a song, and Goodnight Songs: Illustrated by Twelve Award-Winning Picture Book Artists by Margaret Wise Brown, which is a compilation of lullabies.  Other times music complements the words, as in Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by James Dean and Eric Litwin and Let’s Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy by Jan Thomas.  Still other times, as in Red Ted and the Lost Things by Michael Rosen and Joel Stewart and Belly Button Book (Boynton on Board)by Sandra Boynton, music plays a minor role but helps me hook into the book.

3) She makes up tunes for books that don’t have any music in them: These books are always rhythmic to begin with, and then inspiration hits Mama and she just starts making up melodies.  Books that I might otherwise lose interest in become more engaging and I’m hooked.  My two favorite examples of this type are The Man from the Land of Fandango by Margaret Mahy and Polly Dunbar and Where, Oh Where Is Huggle Buggle Bear? (Picture Books Large) by Katherine Sully and Janet Samuel.

My parents truly cannot sing, so do not feel shy about belting out a melody–your kids will love the books you read all the more!

Happy reading!

–Luke, blog co-author (age 3.5)

 

Books suitable for babies: Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?, Perfect Piggies!, Goodnight Songs

Books suitable for toddlers: Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes, Belly Button Book, Where, Oh Where is Huggle Buggle Bear?

Books suitable for preschoolers: Red Ted and the Lost Things, Let’s Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy, The Man from the Land of Fandango

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Reading Tip: “Can You Find?” The Most (Annoying) Amazing Reading Game

It’s late.

It’s been a long day.

All I want to do is read a few books with Luke, say goodnight, and put him to bed.

No can-do.  Luke wants to play “Can you find?”

I want to be annoyed that I’m going to have to think when I’m drop-dead tired, but I just can’t bring myself to be.  Because here’s the thing: “Can you find?” is an amazing game.

Essentially, “Can you find?” is our personal version of “I Spy.”  It began as a curiosity when Luke was about 16 months old and he began pointing to letters when we named them.  It quickly morphed into a fantastic way to communicate with Luke before he could speak himself.  We would ask him to find letters, numbers, colors, and shapes.  Despite sounding like we were quizzing him, Luke genuinely loved the game, and our proof is that it has persisted through a year and a half, has changed to meet his needs, and he still loves to play it.

Here are a few of the stages we have gone through with “Can you find?”

“Can you find….”

  • letters
  • numbers
  • shapes
  • colors (straight colors: red, green, yellow, etc. and then shades of color: light blue, turquoise, dark green, etc.)
  • words (started with known words, but quickly moved to unknown words–great for learning phonics and sounding out words)
  • directions (left, right, up, down, top, bottom)
  • other descriptive adjectives (long, short, big, small, skinny, fat, etc.)
  • emotions
  • unusual objects

The biggest benefit we have seen from playing “Can you find?” is the rapid vocabulary growth.  As we have to stretch our descriptive powers, Luke learns tons of new words.  We have progressed from “Can you find a yellow two?” to “Can you find three little tiny pink fish with spikes on their backs?” It also helps him hone his observational skills and provides us with a great game to play while we’re waiting in line out in public.

Here are a few of the books that Luke initiated “Can you find?” with:

For numbers:

  1, 2, 3 to the Zoo by Eric Carle: Inside the hardcover edition, the numbers 1-10 are repeated in different colors.  Luke STILL loves to play “Can you find?” with these numbers.  We’ve had to get very creative with our descriptions to avoid going insane: “Can you find the yellow two that’s farthest to the right?”  “Can you find the blue and purple number 45?”

For letters:

  Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (Chicka Chicka Book, A) by John Archambault, Bill Martin, Jr., and Lois Ehlert: For letters, nothing beats Chicka.  Luke loved playing “Can you find?” with the page where the letters all fall out of the tree and are a jumbled mess.

For colors and other descriptive adjectives:

   The Pout-Pout Fish (Pout-Pout Fish Adventure) by Deborah Diesen and Dan Hanna: For colors and other descriptive adjectives, Luke discovered Pout-Pout Fish.  On the first two pages of the book, there are a whole bunch of fish and other sea creatures surrounding Mr. Fish.  Luke LOVES finding the various creatures.  We can’t even read this book all the way through anymore.  We get stuck on the first two pages.  Annoying or amazing?

For objects and colors:

   Yoo-Hoo, Ladybug! by Mem Fox and Laura Ljungkvist: For objects and colors, this book is a new one that we just discovered.  Not only are you trying to find the ladybug (she’s pretty well hidden!), but there are all sorts of other items to identify as well.

And for “Can you find?” with words, Luke really enjoys looking at the inside of the dust jacket flaps.  The flaps are usually written for adults, so the vocabulary is more varied and more difficult than typical picture book fare.  It is here that we have seen his decoding ability and phonics knowledge soar.

Happy reading and finding!

–Erin (blog Mama)

 

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Reading Tip: Of Squeaky Mice and Growly Monsters: Using Voices to Engage Children in Books

“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity.”  Christopher Morley (1890 – 1957)

Low, growly monster voices; high-pitched teeny tiny bug voices; scared, trembly voices; bad British accents; “whoo whoo” owl voices; hisssssing sssssnake voices; bubbly fish voices; squeaky mouse voices.  Mama and Dada do all of these and more when they read with me.  It’s quite entertaining listening to them contort their voices for my reading pleasure!  The best part is that they do all of these voices without a trace of embarrassment because they know that as soon as I hear a funky sound or voice I’m instantly hooked.

Here are a few books that work really well with voices, usually because they have multiple characters and each character needs its own distinct voice:

   I Love You, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt and Cyd Moore:  My first “voice” book!  Gorilla gets a low, monster voice with lots of “ooo-ooo, aaa-aaas;” alligator gets “chomp chomp” sounds with chomping arm motions; skunk gets a nasally “smelly” voice (“ewww!” with lots of nose-wrinkling); alien gets a fast, high-pitched voice and lots of “ewwws!” when he eats bugs instead of peanut butter; dinosaur gets eating noises; and the one-eyed monster gets a low, growly voice with “boom, booms!” to emphasize his stomping.  A favorite of mine from about ten months old to two years old.

  The Pout-Pout Fish (Pout-Pout Fish Adventure) by Deborah Diesen and Dan Hanna:  “I’m a pout-pout fish with a pout-pout face…”  What a fun book for creative voices: pout-pout fish gets a low, sad, slow, gloomy voice; clam gets a prim little voice; jellyfish gets a wavering voice pitched up and down to mimic undulating tentacles; octopus gets a no-nonsense, tough guy voice; and squid gets a lady-with-an-attitude voice.  I really like this book and have been reading it with my parents for well over a year now.

  The Gruffalo (Picture Books) by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler: Another fun book to read with multiple voices for the different characters.  Mouse could get a squeaky voice, but Mama usually reads Mouse in her regular voice.  Fox gets a very bad British accent (don’t ask me why–something about fox hunts among the royalty in British literature); owl gets lots of “whoo-whooing” and extended “o”s wherever they occur; snake gets a hissing voice with elongated “s” sounds; and the Gruffalo gets a rough, gravelly voice.  Using voices made this story more accessible for me when I may not have been quite old enough to entirely grasp the nuances of the very clever plot line.

  Gorilla! Gorilla! by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross: There are minor characters that appear briefly throughout the book that you can give voices to, but the two main characters, Mama Mouse and Gorilla, are the two that Mama focuses on the most.  Mama Mouse gets a high, panicky voice to mirror how stressed out she is being chased around the world by a gorilla, while Gorilla gets a low, gravelly voice, loud and emphatic for all of the “STOPs!” and kind and gentle at the end for the surprise twist.

  Bye-Bye, Big Bad Bullybug! by Ed Emberley:  A good book for starting with voices because there are only two kinds of characters: the Big Bad Bullybug and the itty bitty baby bugs.  Mama and Dada use their “monster” voice for the Bullybug (rough, growly, and low), and a high-pitched, almost whiny voice for the itty bitty baby bugs.  A good book for tickles with a fun surprise ending.

  The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss:  For spicing up this already awesome classic, Mama and Dada give unique voices to each of the main characters.  Mama and Dada’s voices differ a lot for these characters though.  For the Cat, Mama does a jolly, slow, deep voice, while Dada does a deep voice with a playful don’t-take-me-too-seriously lilt.  For the Fish in the Pot, Mama does an annoying, high-pitched voice that makes the Fish sound like it’s strenuously objecting to the Cat, while Dada does a gravelly, low voice using lots of inflection for the objecting.  Although Thing 1 and Thing 2 only speak a few lines, Mama makes them talk very quickly and frenetically, imitating how they dart and flit around the house with their kites.

Clearly, these voices are just suggestions.  The best voices are the ones that parents make up for themselves that they are comfortable with and can remember (just try using a different voice after a toddler has heard and liked another!).  Act silly and without embarrassment: the only one who will know what you sound like will be your child, and he or she will love you (and books) all the more for it!

Happy reading!

–Luke (blog co-author, age 2.5)

 

 

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Reading Tip: Hubba-whaa?!? Engaging Children in Books Using Inflection

In addition to adding sounds to our readings, the best thing about reading with my Mama and Dada is that they REALLY get into my books using their voices.  They emphasize important words by speaking louder, making their voices go up or down in pitch, or drawing out certain syllables.   In other words, they use tons of inflection.  Talk about EN-ter-TAIN-ing!

But reading with inflection isn’t just about entertainment: it also helps me to begin associating written letter combinations with their sounds (e.g. “ph” makes an “f” sound), to pronounce words, and to better understand the story.  I also learn an important strategy for decoding new words: sounding out words by segmenting them into syllables.  When my parents run their fingers under the words as they read, it helps me make all of these associations even more easily.  And now that my Mama and Dada have been reading with inflection for so long, I’ve started reading like that myself (which is totally entertaining for them!).

Using inflection is a part of every book that we read, but some authors go out of their way to make it very easy to do.  These books are always among my favorites, mostly because they are so fun to hear.  Here are a few to get you started.  Books are ordered from least to most complex, but I still enjoy even the simplest of them.

  What Will Fat Cat Sit On? by Jan Thomas: If you’re new to the whole inflection thing, this book is a great one to start with.  The illustrations are simple and expressive, and the text is spare, very big, and deliberately constructed to emphasize certain words.  Oh yeah, the book is also hilarious.  A good book for practicing running your finger under the text, too.  Other Jan Thomas books work equally well (The Doghouse is another of my favorites), but this one was my first Jan Thomas book and remains my favorite.

  The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? (Pigeon) by Mo Willems: Another fantastic book that is perfect for exaggerated readings.  Similar to What Will Fat Cat Sit On, the illustrations are simple, the text spare, and the type helps tell you how to read it with inflection.  It’s also pretty darn funny, as are all of Mo Willems’s books.  If this particular book doesn’t appeal to your child, try any of Willems’s books (Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and the Elephant and Piggie books are other favorites of mine).

  The Monster at the End of This Book (Sesame Street) (Little Golden Book) by Jon Stone and Michael Smollin: Another long-time favorite, Monster shares the same text elements as the first two books in this list: large font with emphasis built into the type to make it very easy to read with inflection.  As an added bonus, Grover talks to the reader, begging and pleading to not turn the page.  I love this book in part because it is interactive.

  Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great by Bob Shea: This book is geared toward a slightly older toddler (3-5).  The language is more advanced and the dialogue between the two characters, Goat and Unicorn, takes a few readings for a toddler to figure out.  (Tip: Mama adds in “Goat says…” and “then Unicorn says” to make the exchanges between characters a little easier to understand)  Once you figure out the dialogue, however, the book is really fun to read.  Emphasis on certain words is built into the text using color and size, and once you are comfortable with the personalities of the characters, this book is also a good one for adding your own inflection.  Ham it up!

  Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss:  Classic!  Definitely for an older toddler as it is fairly long, but so much fun to both read and listen to!  Unlike the other books on this list, there are very few text features to help parents figure out which words to emphasize.  Instead, I included it because it is the easiest non-explicit inflection book that I’ve encountered.  It just begs to be read with more and more frustration as the “guy with the tall hat” refuses to try the green eggs and ham that the persistent Sam offers him.

Some parents are naturally good at using inflection, and if that is you, then hopefully these books will simply give you something entertaining to read.  For other parents, reading with inflection does not come as easily, and if that is you, then I hope that these books will help you learn a little something that will help make reading even more fun for both you and your child.

Happy reading!

–Luke (blog co-star, age 2 and a half)

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On Acting the Fool: Reading Tip About Reading With Sounds

 

My Mama and Dada are fools.  Wait.  Perhaps I should clarify.  My Mama and Dada act like fools when they read with me.  They’ve acted this way since they first began reading to me, and it’s part of the reason why I love reading with them so much.  They add noises wherever they possibly can.  They add noises that don’t even exist in real life, all so I will engage in the books they read.  And the noises work!  I love books with lots of possible sound effects, and now that I’ve begun my own pretend play scenarios, I use the sounds myself.

Here are some of the books that provide plenty of opportunities for both animal sounds and other noises that my Mama and Dada read to me when I was really little:

Here are a few books that I liked when I got a little older:

Here are a few other sounds that my Mama and Dada use throughout the books we read:

  • up and down (brrrrrrp with ascending and descending pitch)
  • walking (doot doot doot with fingers walking)
  • running (huffing and arms swinging)
  • doors opening (creeeeeak)
  • falling down (thump or ka-boom)
  • cars or go (vroom)
  • stop (errrrrrr! Or screeeech!)
  • wind blowing (hooooo)
  • rain (pshhhhh with fingers wiggling up to down to mimic rain)
  • squirrels (sing-song “squirrel, squirrel, shake your bushy tail” and have child wiggle)
  • flowers (sniff flowers and have child sniff, too)

Act the fool!  Add sounds wherever you can.  They draw in little guys and gals like me and help us really enjoy reading with you!

–Luke (blog co-star, age two and a half)

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