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Baby and Toddler

Babies and toddlers enjoy stories, but may not have the words to communicate what they like or why. But, parents can read their very young child's expressions and gestures, and interpret what makes a book intriguing, scary, or full of fun.

Read these parents' stories to learn about different books that babies and toddlers enjoy and ways that they foster their child's language and literacy development.

Sophie's Story: Hippos on the Ceiling
Sophie just turned eight months, and already books are a big part of her life. Because we are a bilingual Greek and English-speaking family, reading Greek board books as well as English is a priority. Each night at bedtime, I hold her on my lap in the rocking chair and read her goodnight stories. She loves Goodnight Moon and The Going-To-Bed Book.

We don't just read at bedtime, but during playtime, too. She loves Hippos Go Berserk by Sandra Boynton. That's not a sleepy book at all. It's full of fun and zaniness with hippos dancing on the ceiling and the roof. I'm not sure if Sophie loves the colorful, cartoon-like illustrations or the rhythmic, playful text, but she wants to read this book again and again. I know this a favorite because she grabs the book when she sees it, and she pounds her hand on her favorite pages.

Sharing books with Sophie is special. As a kid, I always loved books, and reading to Sophie is a way of sharing something that I love with someone I love.

Nattie and Jack's Story: The Heavy Book
The twins are two years old now, and they have a new favorite book--"the heavy book." Jack is the one who named it the "heavy book" when he tried to carry it to the living room for our regular story time. Nattie and Jack just latched onto it--they love the stories about different animals--from kangaroos to coyotes to farm animals.

Jack and Nattie each have favorite stories in the heavy book. Jack likes the coyote story (which he calls the "tie-o") because the coyote is the predator of the jackrabbit ("dat ra"). Nattie likes the story about the grizzly bear, because the mommy bear growls at the wolf every time he gets near the baby bear.

The other day I was sitting on the couch with Jack, ready to read him a story. I flipped through the "heavy book" and said, "Look, there's a beaver." "No, pear-dawg," Jack said. "What?" I asked, confused. "Pear-dawg," he said again. Then I turned the page and I understood. I wasn't looking at a beaver after all. I was looking at a prairie dog!

Nattie likes to act out the stories she's read about. After we read a story about a kangaroo, she tucked a baby Elmo doll into her pajama bottoms. "What are you doing?" I asked her, puzzled. Nattie jumped. "Look, joey!" she said. Then I figured it out: Nattie was pretending to be a mother kangaroo carrying around her joey.

The kids like to draw pictures of the animals, too. Yesterday, Nattie drew a picture of the momma bear scaring the wolf. Jack drew a picture of the jackrabbit and the coyote.

I love reading with my kids and talking about the books we read together. It's a time for us to snuggle up. It's a time to explore new worlds, and when I see my kids acting out these stories we've read or drawing pictures of their favorite characters, that's when I know they've taken it all in.

Jackson's Story: Books About Doing
Jackson has never been one to be on the sidelines. If someone's playing ball, that's what he wants to do. If someone is jumping in a puddle, Jackson is in the puddle. Getting my two-year-old son to slow down is hard, to say the least. When I tried to read him books, he always seemed distracted.

Then, one day we passed a construction site, and he was glued. He loved the big trucks and the backhoes. That's when I got the idea about getting him books about construction--books about doing. His favorite construction book so far is Diggers and Dump Trucks. Jackson is so attentive when he looks at that book, and he has developed a whole new vocabulary, complete with excavator ("eccavator"), bulldozer, and backhoe. Now when we pass the construction site, he has words to describe what he sees: "See the backhoe, Mommy. It's moving the dirt, Mommy."

Jackson is an active little guy--but I've learned that he does love books, as long as we find books about topics that interest him.

Lila's Story: Reading Big Girl Books
Since Lila turned three, she's taken to Frog and Toad. She loves the stories and the drawings, too. She also likes the fact that she's reading a "big girl" book, complete with chapters. When I read to her, the first page we look at is the table of contents. That's when the negotiations begin--how many chapters we'll get to read that day.

Lila loves the story about Toad getting covered in ice cream. There's something about that story that gets to Lila. I think it's because there are parts of that story that are scary for Lila, like the pictures of Toad covered in ice cream, with leaves stuck all over him because he keeps falling and falling. It's like he's a brown monster or something. Then Toad, who is one big sticky, goopy mess, jumps into the pond. Lila is learning to swim now, so seeing Toad submerged in the water takes her aback. Each time we read that story Lila asks, "Did Toad go all the way under, Mommy?" I always try to reassure her, "Yeah, Lila, but he's a toad, he knows how to swim." Reading that story again and again is almost a way of mastering something that she's just learning to do, things that are a bit scary for her right now.

Lila always loved stories, ever since she was little. She loves the lyrical quality, the familiarity of the words, and the characters. Reading is something wonderful that we share together. Now Lila shares books with her favorite stuffed animals. She holds the book up the way the librarians do during story hour so everyone can see the pictures, and then she makes up words to go with each page.