I frequented the New England Mobile Book Fair quite a bit when we lived in Providence. I outfitted much of my classroom library with books purchased there. In addition, I would go there and buy books for my personal library and for friends’ kids. Therefore, I purchased the “Guess How Much I Love You” Little Library long before I had Isabelle. It sat in shrink-wrap for about two years until last week. I recently removed the shrink-wrap and gave them to Isabelle since she seemed to like a few of the Tigger & Friends Books that we had extras of from her first birthday party’s treat bags.
Isabelle has really taken to the series of books written by Sam McBratney. There are four tales of nutbrown hairs in these little books. Each tiny board book reflects a particular season of the year. While she is under the age recommendation for these books (They’re for kids three and up.), she really enjoys holding them in her hands. They’re a great distraction tool during things like hair brushing since she can easily hold the books and turn the pages.
And oh does she love to turn the pages of these books! She enjoys looking at the illustrations and flipping the pages, which is her way of reading. Due to my desire not to praise her for every little thing she does, I cheer for her when she reads the book left to right, right-side-up, and turns every page. (Cheering consists of me saying things like “Yea! You read the entire book left to right.” or “Yea! You figured out how to read the book correctly and you read every page!) She lights up when she hears me say “Yea…” and loves watching me clap for her. In fact, she even claps too when she realizes that I’m recognizing something she did well.
Raising Literate Humans 