It's Never Too Early to Read

This morning a young mother came in with her infant in a stroller to the Children's Department. Outside our library, the streets had been blocked off for a Children's Fun Fest with free activities and crafts for children. We had a lot of interest in our air conditioning and bathrooms today!

The mother was checking out several picture books and board books for her young baby. We started talking about the importance of reading early as I made silly faces at her smiling baby. She said she had been reading to her infant since the time he was born and by now at only 4 months old, he was interested in turning the pages on the board books for her! Even if your baby is only chewing on the corners of the board book, he/she is beginning to learn important early literacy skills. They will learn print awareness (how to hold the book, turn the pages, words and pictures correspond) and print motivation (learning to enjoy reading books or hearing stories).
Most of all, they will enjoy the time spent with you sharing the love of reading!

I encouraged this mother to sign up her baby for the Tyke Tales Story Time on Thursday mornings with Mrs. Haney so they could come to the library and read stories and sing songs together. If you can't make story time, still come in and we'll help you pick out some great board books for you and your baby.
And babies---keep reading!