Brooke Chaplan – momstown guest contributor
What creates engagement in reading for children? The answer is simple: find books they will love. When kids see things that interest them and spark new ideas in their picture books, reading will become a skill they want to learn, rather than tiresome homework. Here are seven childhood favorites to help engage and inspire your kindergartner learning to read.
Cornelius P. Mud, Are You Ready for Bed?
By: Barney Saltzberg – (Candlewick Press, 2005) 28 pages.
Cornelius P, Mud’s responses to requests to prepare for bed may seem ordinary, that is, until the child sees Saltzberg’s amazing illustrations.
Rumble in the Jungle
By: Giles Andreae, illustrated by: David Wojtowycz – (Tiger Tales, 2001) 32 pages.
Filled with vibrant illustrations and engaging rhymes, this book’s trip on an imaginary safari is bound to delight young children.
Monkey and Me
By: Emily Gravett – (Simon & Schuster, 2008) 32 pages.
A book written to engage children intellectually and physically, this book’s charming verses and illustrations allow the child to pretend to be various animals and act out their part.
David Goes to School
By: David Shannon – (Blue Sky Press, 1999) 32 pages.
This is one of the best of author Shannon’s series of books about David, a horrifically behaved, yet somehow charming child. In this book, David proves himself to be, like almost any child, just a little rough around the edges. It is a redemptive story that will captivate any young child.
Where the Wild Things Are
By: Maurice Sendak – (Harper Collins, 1963) 48 pages.
For fifty years, Maurice Sendak’s tale about mischievous Max and his misadventures as king of the wild things has been a classic bedtime story for children of almost any age!
Marshmallow
By: Clare Turley Newberry – (Harper Collins Children’s Books, 1942) 32 pages.
Published in 1942, this book was written by Caldecott Award Winner Clare Turley Newberry. The illustrations are lovely and the story is a touching one. This book often becomes a young child’s favorite read-aloud story.
The Kissing Hand
By: Audrey Penn, illustrated by: Ruth E. Harper and Nancy M. Leak – (Child & Family Press, 1993) 32 pages.
This book, it is said, is often used by kindergarten teachers to soothe their new charges on their sometimes difficult first day. It is a book about a raccoon who does not want to leave home and go to school.
Any teacher or librarian who has a master’s in library science will tell you that a love of reading starts young. Parents who want their kids to read for more than just work know that finding books that will start that love of reading is important. For your kindergarten-aged child, so much is going on in their lives, from the first day of school to their steep learning curve in life. Good books like these can help them on their confusing journey and keep reading alive in their hearts.
Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most her time hiking, biking and gardening. For more information contact Brooke via Twitter @BrookeChaplan.
https://www.facebook.com/brooke.chaplan
