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Many parents don't realise the true value of Reading to Babies and Toddlers and think that books are for nursery or school. Far from it!
Even before babies are old enough to sit up and paw at the pages, you can read to them. The even tones that your voice generates when reading are as soothing and stimulating as singing to your child, and long before your child knows that books read from left to right, or that the pages aren't for sucking on (!), you can get into a reading habit that will serve them well for life.
From about one year up, a book like 'The Beginner's Guide to Bears', with its soft, cartoony illustrations, is ideal. Even if you only share a few pages at a time, or just look at the pictures and stray from the light, playful text (which is very large and simple for young listeners), instead talking about the pictures of teddy bears in cuddling, playing in the snow, playing with toys etc, you can relate the images to your own child's life.
As they grow, very young children (pre-school) really enjoy seeing things they can reference from their own small experience, even if the actual concept of a bear playing a flute isn't something they will have ever seen in real life!
'You need a bear
And a bear needs you.
You and a bear
Together make two.'
Through the book, Gillian Shields uses easy lines of text to celebrate the joys of what bears are all about and what they like. (Cuddly ones, of course, not scary ones in real forests!) And of course, it turns out that bears like the same things your child likes - playing, making noise, eating yummy food, being comforted when they are sad.
At the same time, Shields subtly introduces themes like 'big and small', different kinds of weather, and emotions. These don't have great resonance at first, but as the book becomes a familiar and loved story that your child returns to again and again, he will grow with it and begin to relate to those themes.
This is a charming book with a very soft approach to book reading. It is ideal even if you feel daunted yourself about getting books that are too old, or too complicated for your child's age group.
