There was much discussion on my Facebook page about favourite children's books. Some feature on my list but there were some I hadn't heard of. It's always interesting to hear which books influenced children - right into their adulthood - and spurred on a love for reading. I'd LOVE to hear your favourite books and books that influenced you. You can comment on this post and search for my Facebook page: MissMayBlossom.
There is much written about the mechanics of learning to read but I think I'll keep that for another post!
A few days into a school year I let my students in on a secret. I make certain everyone is listening and ready to hear by leaning forward so they lean in towards me. I widen my eyes and I ask in a hushed voice "Are you ready to hear my secret?" "Yes," they whisper in anticipation. Then I tell them... "I love books."
So, it's not a BIG secret but it is a very significant moment in my classroom. At home my love of books and reading is evident by the overflowing bookshelves... and side tables, the dining table, my recipe book collection (which is also under my bed. Don't tell J!), the childrens' beds, the car.... The children had about 100 books before they were conceived. You can never have enough books or access to books. Reading is the thing we do in our house when there's a dull moment. It's the thing we do while we wait at the doctor's surgery. It's the thing we do in cafes.
"You can never have enough books." is something I commonly say. It reminds me of when my grandmother was helping me move when I was at uni. She was carrying (of her own volition) a heavy crate of my CD's and questioned "Do you need all of these?" My response was "Yes. They're all different." The same goes for books. You can learn so much from one book and they are all different. I'm not just referring to learning the 'surface' information - storyline, characters or information about birds, for example. I am referring to the skills learned from interacting with and responding to a variety of texts.
My kids see me read recipe books, the newspaper, crosswords, sewing patterns, maps and picture books. Text is everywhere but there's something more authentic about 'holding' a physical text than just reading from a computer screen, after all, you could be doing anything. When you are holding a newspaper, looking like you're reading, Kids can see that you are probably reading the newspaper. It's unambiguous. That's not to say reading online isn't valid. It's just a different medium. My kids also see me reading blogs.
Children (and adults) learn best when a purpose for their learning is evident and it is presented in a fun way. For example, the best way to teach a child to read a recipe is to follow the recipe and make the dish. Clearly, by cooking something they'll eventually eat (probably not fois gras), thus relating it to their interests and real-world experiences, they'll gain more from the experience.
My children are two and four. Neither of them can 'read' in the conventional sense although I do think B (4) would pick it up quickly if I taught him. I have made a conscious decision not to teach B to read. I know he'll learn to read words at school and that will be a huge focus of his first year at school. In holding off, I believe I've also given the children a few skills they may not have developed otherwise, and that will help them tremendously as they do learn to read. We read our kids a few books each day but they read piles of books on their own, simply by examining the illustrations. 'Reading' illustrations is a skill that helps children decode text, simply by giving the text a context. If your child doesn't learn to read before school (which used to be the norm) or you are wondering whether or not to teach them, you might like to consider this, along with giving them access to many and varied forms of print.
There is much discussion in education about the best way to 'teach' reading (especially to boys who, it appears, are our most reluctant readers). I'm not waiting until my children are at school so that I can outsource to a teacher to teach my kids to love to learn and love to read. Role modelling is key to developing a love for reading and that doesn't just mean role-modelling reading text messages from our mobile phones. It is so important to have uninterrupted and dedicated reading time. This time depends on the family and might be after brekky or before bed, with Grandma after school, or Dad after work. The important thing is that this is the time when you can all read together, lose yourselves in the world on the pages and not be interrupted by an abrupt 'ping' of an incoming text or phone call.
I've decided to compile list a few of my favourite books. Once I decided I'd do this I realised just how difficult it is to choose 'just a few.'
Books about Reading
The three titles below are books I have lent to parents who would like to know more about teaching children to read.
* Reading Magic by Mem Fox
* the Reading Bug by Paul Jennings
* Rocket Your Child into Reading Jackie French
Picture Books & Books for Young children
It doesn't matter how old my primary school aged students are I don't stop showing them picture books. Everybody can learn something from the. They can be so visually stimulating and the best ones can be interpreted on more than one level, thus making them appealing for young and old readers alike.
Text-less Books
One lunchtime, in my first year of teaching, I dashed out of my school to grab some food and couldn't resist a wander through the local Angus and Robertson bookshop. It was on the shelves of the kids book section that I spotted some familiar illustrations. Moonlight (1) was the book and it wasn't until I opened it that I realised it's sister, Sunshine (2) was the reason it was familiar. Sunshine was a favourite book of mine and I do remember the illustrations from 'reading' it at a very early age. I am guessing this would be a pre-5yo memory.
Moonlight and Sunshine, like The Bear and the Fly (3), are text-less texts and so, a perfect way to introduce children to the concept of story-telling. The reader makes up a story based on the illustrations. Sunshine is such a beautiful story - one that families can relate to - getting ready for school and work, sleeping in, burning toast.
There's something appealing about rhythmic text but contrived rhyme i.e. rhyming words for the sake of it, is something I find particularly irritating. Children don't seem to mind though! The Very Cranky Bear (4) is a good example of a book with 'appealing' rhyme and I can't go past the favourite Hairy Maclary (5) books either.
I'm a bit partial to a good non-fiction text for children. In my recent haul of books at a Lifeline Book Fair I bought books about skeletons, thunder and lightning, space and the human body. Little people are sponges for information and it never ceases to astound me when I hear a child repeating a fact they've 'read,' or heard being read, from a book, sometimes months before.
The Three Little Bush Pigs (6) is a hilarious take on the classic, The Three Little Pigs. With the use of good Aussie slang the story starts. "Deep in the Pilliga Scrub lived the three little bush pigs who were as keen as mustard to leave home." They must outsmart the dingrel, who had a head like a twisted gumboot, so when the first little bush pig insists he build his house from prickly pear his brothers reckon he must be off his rocker!
In some cases I generalise about a collection of books by the same author. I love picture books by Alison Lester, Jeannie Baker and Graeme Base for their own reasons.
The Boy Who Painted the Sun (7) I picked up a copy of this book at an op-shop at some point during my four-year teaching degree. It's ratty and falling apart but I just love the illustrations. The story follows a boy who lived on a farm only to move to the grey city where he misses the farm. The boy buys a paint box and sets out to paint the farm he yearns for and the city in colour.
Ice creams for Rosie (8)
As a child, there's something exciting about reading about ice-cream and lollies (think Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (9)) and this book is a treat (get it?). My students have loved this book - as Rosie gets her revenge on Ol' Bill Coley (who has a voice like thunder) - when he refuses to bring a supply of ice-cream to the island where she lives.
We're Going on a Bear Hunt (10) was P's favourite book and for some months she had two covered copies and one 'board book' copy in her bed. The book contains onomatopoeia, rhyme and a reminds me of a song the way it builds to a crescendo. The beautiful illustrations (alternating colour and black and white) also make it a highly appealing book.
Where the Forest Meets the Sea (11) Given to me around my 7th birthday, this book (and others by Baker) has always enthralled me. I am fascinated as to how a three-dimensional scene of the Daintree can be created and then communicated in 2D. I love the timeless environmental message that forms the basis of the story - the destruction of our environment and development in its place is a short-term decision that can't be reversed and is one that affects us into the long-term.
In My Backyard (12) is a simple text which, when read without the illustrations, would seem to describe a jungle. Alongside the illustrations we can see the book is about a concrete jungle, the city. I have used this book a lot with students as a tool to get them to consider the juxtaposition.
Here are a few others that couldn't go unmentioned:
Tikki Tikki Tembo written by Arlene Mosel and illustrated by Blair Lent.
The Rainbow Serpent by Dick Roughsey
The Meg and Mog books Jan Pienkowski
Picasso's Trousers by Nicholas Allan (I have to admit that I am a sucker for a book that introduces kids to art and concepts of art.)
There are books to be read and books that can be read-aloud. Not all books sound right when they're read aloud. The Wishing Chair (17) and The Enchanted Wood series (18) are two of my favourite books for reading aloud to young kids. We have also read the Tashi series (19) and the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (20) to our children.
1. Moonlight by Jan Ormerod
2. Sunshine by Jan Ormerod
3. The Bear and the Fly by Paula Winter
4. The Very Cranky Bear by Nick Bland
5. Hairy Maclary by Lynley Dodd
6. The Three Little Bush Pigs by Paul Dallimore
7. The Boy Who Painted the Sun by Illustrated by Geoff Hocking
8. Ice Creams for Rosie by Ronda and David Armitage
9. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
10. We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
11. Where the Forest Meets the Sea by Jeannie Baker12. In My Backyard by Nette Hilton and Anne Spudvilas
13. Tikki Tikki Tembo written by Arlene Mosel and illustrated by Blair Lent.
14. The Rainbow Serpent by Dick Roughsey
15. The Meg and Mog books Jan Pienkowski
16. Picasso's Trousers by Nicholas Allan
17. The Wishing Chair by Enid Blyton
18. The Enchanted Wood series by Enid Blyton
19. Tashi by Anna and Barbara Fienberg
20. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
There is much written about the mechanics of learning to read but I think I'll keep that for another post!
A few days into a school year I let my students in on a secret. I make certain everyone is listening and ready to hear by leaning forward so they lean in towards me. I widen my eyes and I ask in a hushed voice "Are you ready to hear my secret?" "Yes," they whisper in anticipation. Then I tell them... "I love books."
So, it's not a BIG secret but it is a very significant moment in my classroom. At home my love of books and reading is evident by the overflowing bookshelves... and side tables, the dining table, my recipe book collection (which is also under my bed. Don't tell J!), the childrens' beds, the car.... The children had about 100 books before they were conceived. You can never have enough books or access to books. Reading is the thing we do in our house when there's a dull moment. It's the thing we do while we wait at the doctor's surgery. It's the thing we do in cafes.
"You can never have enough books." is something I commonly say. It reminds me of when my grandmother was helping me move when I was at uni. She was carrying (of her own volition) a heavy crate of my CD's and questioned "Do you need all of these?" My response was "Yes. They're all different." The same goes for books. You can learn so much from one book and they are all different. I'm not just referring to learning the 'surface' information - storyline, characters or information about birds, for example. I am referring to the skills learned from interacting with and responding to a variety of texts.
My kids see me read recipe books, the newspaper, crosswords, sewing patterns, maps and picture books. Text is everywhere but there's something more authentic about 'holding' a physical text than just reading from a computer screen, after all, you could be doing anything. When you are holding a newspaper, looking like you're reading, Kids can see that you are probably reading the newspaper. It's unambiguous. That's not to say reading online isn't valid. It's just a different medium. My kids also see me reading blogs.
Children (and adults) learn best when a purpose for their learning is evident and it is presented in a fun way. For example, the best way to teach a child to read a recipe is to follow the recipe and make the dish. Clearly, by cooking something they'll eventually eat (probably not fois gras), thus relating it to their interests and real-world experiences, they'll gain more from the experience.
My children are two and four. Neither of them can 'read' in the conventional sense although I do think B (4) would pick it up quickly if I taught him. I have made a conscious decision not to teach B to read. I know he'll learn to read words at school and that will be a huge focus of his first year at school. In holding off, I believe I've also given the children a few skills they may not have developed otherwise, and that will help them tremendously as they do learn to read. We read our kids a few books each day but they read piles of books on their own, simply by examining the illustrations. 'Reading' illustrations is a skill that helps children decode text, simply by giving the text a context. If your child doesn't learn to read before school (which used to be the norm) or you are wondering whether or not to teach them, you might like to consider this, along with giving them access to many and varied forms of print.
There is much discussion in education about the best way to 'teach' reading (especially to boys who, it appears, are our most reluctant readers). I'm not waiting until my children are at school so that I can outsource to a teacher to teach my kids to love to learn and love to read. Role modelling is key to developing a love for reading and that doesn't just mean role-modelling reading text messages from our mobile phones. It is so important to have uninterrupted and dedicated reading time. This time depends on the family and might be after brekky or before bed, with Grandma after school, or Dad after work. The important thing is that this is the time when you can all read together, lose yourselves in the world on the pages and not be interrupted by an abrupt 'ping' of an incoming text or phone call.
I've decided to compile list a few of my favourite books. Once I decided I'd do this I realised just how difficult it is to choose 'just a few.'
Books about Reading
The three titles below are books I have lent to parents who would like to know more about teaching children to read.
* Reading Magic by Mem Fox
* the Reading Bug by Paul Jennings
* Rocket Your Child into Reading Jackie French
Picture Books & Books for Young children
It doesn't matter how old my primary school aged students are I don't stop showing them picture books. Everybody can learn something from the. They can be so visually stimulating and the best ones can be interpreted on more than one level, thus making them appealing for young and old readers alike.
Text-less Books
One lunchtime, in my first year of teaching, I dashed out of my school to grab some food and couldn't resist a wander through the local Angus and Robertson bookshop. It was on the shelves of the kids book section that I spotted some familiar illustrations. Moonlight (1) was the book and it wasn't until I opened it that I realised it's sister, Sunshine (2) was the reason it was familiar. Sunshine was a favourite book of mine and I do remember the illustrations from 'reading' it at a very early age. I am guessing this would be a pre-5yo memory.
Moonlight and Sunshine, like The Bear and the Fly (3), are text-less texts and so, a perfect way to introduce children to the concept of story-telling. The reader makes up a story based on the illustrations. Sunshine is such a beautiful story - one that families can relate to - getting ready for school and work, sleeping in, burning toast.
Sunshine by Jan Ormerod
Picture BooksThere's something appealing about rhythmic text but contrived rhyme i.e. rhyming words for the sake of it, is something I find particularly irritating. Children don't seem to mind though! The Very Cranky Bear (4) is a good example of a book with 'appealing' rhyme and I can't go past the favourite Hairy Maclary (5) books either.
I'm a bit partial to a good non-fiction text for children. In my recent haul of books at a Lifeline Book Fair I bought books about skeletons, thunder and lightning, space and the human body. Little people are sponges for information and it never ceases to astound me when I hear a child repeating a fact they've 'read,' or heard being read, from a book, sometimes months before.
The Three Little Bush Pigs (6) is a hilarious take on the classic, The Three Little Pigs. With the use of good Aussie slang the story starts. "Deep in the Pilliga Scrub lived the three little bush pigs who were as keen as mustard to leave home." They must outsmart the dingrel, who had a head like a twisted gumboot, so when the first little bush pig insists he build his house from prickly pear his brothers reckon he must be off his rocker!
In some cases I generalise about a collection of books by the same author. I love picture books by Alison Lester, Jeannie Baker and Graeme Base for their own reasons.
The Boy Who Painted the Sun (7) I picked up a copy of this book at an op-shop at some point during my four-year teaching degree. It's ratty and falling apart but I just love the illustrations. The story follows a boy who lived on a farm only to move to the grey city where he misses the farm. The boy buys a paint box and sets out to paint the farm he yearns for and the city in colour.
Ice creams for Rosie (8)
As a child, there's something exciting about reading about ice-cream and lollies (think Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (9)) and this book is a treat (get it?). My students have loved this book - as Rosie gets her revenge on Ol' Bill Coley (who has a voice like thunder) - when he refuses to bring a supply of ice-cream to the island where she lives.
Ice Creams for Rosie by Ronda and David Armitage
We're Going on a Bear Hunt (10) was P's favourite book and for some months she had two covered copies and one 'board book' copy in her bed. The book contains onomatopoeia, rhyme and a reminds me of a song the way it builds to a crescendo. The beautiful illustrations (alternating colour and black and white) also make it a highly appealing book.
Where the Forest Meets the Sea (11) Given to me around my 7th birthday, this book (and others by Baker) has always enthralled me. I am fascinated as to how a three-dimensional scene of the Daintree can be created and then communicated in 2D. I love the timeless environmental message that forms the basis of the story - the destruction of our environment and development in its place is a short-term decision that can't be reversed and is one that affects us into the long-term.
In My Backyard (12) is a simple text which, when read without the illustrations, would seem to describe a jungle. Alongside the illustrations we can see the book is about a concrete jungle, the city. I have used this book a lot with students as a tool to get them to consider the juxtaposition.
Here are a few others that couldn't go unmentioned:
Tikki Tikki Tembo written by Arlene Mosel and illustrated by Blair Lent.
The Rainbow Serpent by Dick Roughsey
The Meg and Mog books Jan Pienkowski
Picasso's Trousers by Nicholas Allan (I have to admit that I am a sucker for a book that introduces kids to art and concepts of art.)
Sunshine by Jan Ormerod
Read-alouds There are books to be read and books that can be read-aloud. Not all books sound right when they're read aloud. The Wishing Chair (17) and The Enchanted Wood series (18) are two of my favourite books for reading aloud to young kids. We have also read the Tashi series (19) and the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (20) to our children.
1. Moonlight by Jan Ormerod
2. Sunshine by Jan Ormerod
3. The Bear and the Fly by Paula Winter
4. The Very Cranky Bear by Nick Bland
5. Hairy Maclary by Lynley Dodd
6. The Three Little Bush Pigs by Paul Dallimore
7. The Boy Who Painted the Sun by Illustrated by Geoff Hocking
8. Ice Creams for Rosie by Ronda and David Armitage
9. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
10. We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
11. Where the Forest Meets the Sea by Jeannie Baker12. In My Backyard by Nette Hilton and Anne Spudvilas
13. Tikki Tikki Tembo written by Arlene Mosel and illustrated by Blair Lent.
14. The Rainbow Serpent by Dick Roughsey
15. The Meg and Mog books Jan Pienkowski
16. Picasso's Trousers by Nicholas Allan
17. The Wishing Chair by Enid Blyton
18. The Enchanted Wood series by Enid Blyton
19. Tashi by Anna and Barbara Fienberg
20. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
It must be the 'thing' to do - write about reading. I found this article just after posting this blog post. A good read about oublishing and books. http://www.webchild.com.au/read/viewpoints/book-to-the-future
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