This document provides an overview of different types of books that are appropriate for developing early literacy skills in children. It discusses picture books, concept books, alphabet books, counting books, nursery rhymes, predictable books, and big books. The key points made are that early exposure to books, repeated readings, and opportunities for participation are important for literacy development in young children. Different genres of books help children develop language skills, concepts of print, and enjoyment of stories.

1. Books to Begin On
Presented by
Prof. T. Méndez
ENGL 3440 C h ildren’s Li te ratu re in Engl ish

2. Developing Initial Literacy
The language development of children during the
first years is phenomenal.
Preoccupation with words and the sounds of
language is characteristic of the very young child.
Books help to fulfill this insatiable desire to hear
and learn new words.
Hearing literature of good quality helps children
to develop to their full language potential.

3. Developing Initial Literacy
Children cannot be introduced to books too soon.
Talk is essential at the beginning in order to
develop comprehension skills as children attach
meaning to the sounds.
The young child who has the opportunity to hear
and enjoy many stories is also beginning to learn
to read.

4. Developing Initial Literacy
Children begin to acquire simultaneously some
of the attitudes, concepts and skills needed to
become literate.
They also acquire a positive attitude towards
books, an understanding about the sense making
aspect of stories, and the form and structure of
written language itself.
All of this learning occurs at the pre-reading
stage and is essential for later success in reading.

5. Developing Initial Literacy
Watch the following videos and identify the
different characteristics or actions related to
literature interaction.

6. Developing Initial Literacy
Early exposure to books and plenty of time for
talk and enjoyment of the story are key factors in
the child’s acquisition of literacy.

7. Babies’ First Books
First books for young children are frequently
identification books, “naming books,” or books
with simple narrative lines.
These books allow the child to point to pictures
demanding to know what it is.
This type of sharing between the child and the
adult is extremely important during the pre-
reading stage.

8. Babies’ First Books
The growth of good books for babies and
toddlers was a publishing phenomenon of the
1980s and 1990s.
Books for this age group need to be well
constructed, with heavy laminated cardboard,
cloth, or plastic pages that will withstand teeth or
sticky fingers.
Illustrations should be simple, uncluttered, and
easily identifiable. (Tana Hoban, What is that?)

9. Toy Books
Some books have a “built-in participation” s part
of their design.
These books have flaps to lift up and peek under,
soft flannel to touch, or holes to poke fingers
through.
Such books can serve as the transition between
toys and real books.

10. Finger Rhymes and Nursery
Songs
Finger rhymes are one traditional way to provide
for young children’s participation as they play.
Rhymes such as “Five little pigs” and “Eensy
Weensy Spider” provide participation in a playful
way.
Finger plays date back to the time of Freidrich
Froebel, the father of the kindergarten
movement.

11. Finger Rhymes and Nursery
Songs
Friedrich collected the finger plays and games
that the peasant mothers in the German
countryside were using with their children.
Babies and toddlers often first respond to the
sounds of music and singing.
Many authors and illustrators have created new
and innovative interpretations for familiar songs.

12. Finger Rhymes and Nursery
Songs
All children need to hear songs, from the time
they are babies right through school.
Many emergent readers’ first books are shared
nursery rhymes and songs or chants.
Children “read” the familiar words as they sing
the songs.
Classes should have favorite songs to start the
day or to sing while waiting for an activity.

13. Mother Goose
Mother Goose is most children’s first
introduction to the world of literature.
These folk rhymes are passed down from
generation to generation and are found across
many cultures.
Language games such as “Pat-a-Cake! Pat-a-
Cake!” or “This Little Pig Went to Market” appeal
to young children well up until they are 5 years
old.

14. Mother Goose
Much of the language in these rhymes is obscure;
for example, modern-day children have no idea
what curds and whey are, yet they delight in
Little Miss Muffet.
Nothing in current literature has replaced the
venerable Mother Goose for the nursery-school
age.

15. The Appeal of Mother Goose
Much of the appeal of Mother Goose lies in the
musical quality of the varied language patterns,
and the rhythm and rhyme of the verses.
Researchers have now linked children’s
experience with nursery rhymes and speech play
to the development of sensitivity to the sounds
within words, an ability called “phonemic
awareness”.

16. The Appeal of Mother Goose
Children’s ability to manipulate the sounds of
words as they sing and chant nursery rhymes is a
necessary foundation for understanding
relationships between letters and sounds and
contributes to their emergent literacy
development.
Mother Goose rhymes also offer young children
many opportunities for active participation and
response.

17. The Appeal of Mother Goose
Many of the Mother Goose rhymes narrative
quality is extremely attractive to children.
They tell a good story with quick action.
Many of the characters in Mother Goose have
interesting likable personalities.
The humor in Mother Goose rhymes is also
appealing.

18. Different Editions of
Mother Goose
Many Mother Goose editions are available today.
Preschool and primary teachers should have one
that can be shared with small groups of children.

19. Alphabet Books
In colonial days, children were first taught their
ABCs from cautionary rhymes which combined
early literacy and religion.
Later, pictures of animals beginning with certain
letters were added to hornbooks and early primers
for younger children.
Alphabet books today have moved beyond
teaching children their alphabet to serving as a
format to present detailed information about a
particular subject, to showcase an art book, or to
create complicated puzzles.

20. Alphabet Books
In addition to teaching the names and shapes of
the letters, ABC books can also be used for
identification or naming, as they provide the
young child with large, bright pictures of animals
or single objects to look at and talk about.
Certain factors need to be considered in selecting
alphabet books for the youngest child.

21. Alphabet Books
Objects should be clearly presented on the page
These should be easily identifiable and
meaningful for the intended age level
Only one or two objects should be shown for the
very young child
It is best to avoid portraying anything that might
have several correct names

22. Alphabet Books
Since text is necessarily limited, the pictures
usually “carry” the story
They should be both clear and consistent with
the text, reflecting and creating the mood of the
book

23. Alphabet Books
Alphabet books vary, in both their texts and their
pictorial presentation, from very simple to
abstract
Authors and illustrators use a variety of organizing
structures to create ABC texts

24. Alphabet Books
There are four types of ABC books:
word-picture formats
simple narratives
riddles or puzzles
topical themes

25. Alphabet Books
Alphabet Book Activity

26. Counting Books
Children usually learn to count by using objects
such as block, boxes or bottle caps.
Counting books substitute pictures for real
objects.
Young children can make the transition from
concrete to visual representation if they first
experience the use of real objects.

27. Counting Books
In Counting books, illustrations must be clear
and stand out.
Illustrations and page design must be accurate,
uncluttered and not confusing.
Counting books are divided into three categories:
one-to-one correspondence
other mathematical concepts
number stories and puzzles

28. One-to-One Correspondence
One-to-one correspondence Counting books,
usually present numbers one at a time.
Photos, or clear bright pictures of everyday
objects are used.

29. Other Mathematical
Concepts
Brightly colored illustrations are used to depict
simple mathematical concepts such as
subtraction and addition.
Objects are used to represent sets of five or ten.
Photographs of fruits may be used to represent
simple fractions.

30. Number Stories and Puzzles
These Counting books contain stories and
informational text with number integration.
Detailed pictures are used with vivid colors.

31. Concept Books
ABC books and counting books are really concept
book.
Books that help children learn spatial relations
and patterns and to identify and discriminate
colors are examples of concept books.
Some books combine multiple concepts.

32. Concept Books
Simple text accompanies the picture, and a
simple glossary at the end is included in most
books.
Many publishers have found the preschool
audience a strong market for simple books of
nonfiction as well as concepts.

33. Concept Books
Concept and nonfiction books help the youngest
child see relationships between objects.
Children develop awareness of similarities and
differences.
Children grasp the various dimensions of an
abstract idea.

34. Concept Books
Information for the younger child should be
presented in a clear manner, with one or more
examples given.
Where appropriate, the functions of objects
should be made clear.
Concepts should be within the developmental
scope of the child.

35. Concept Books
These books can be used to enrich or reinforce an
experience, not substitute it.
Children enjoy hearing these books read aloud
because of the curiosity it develops and the need
to seek for information.
They want to know the names of things, how they
work, and why this is so.

36. Wordless Books
Wordless books are picture books in which the
story line is told entirely through pictures.
They are increasingly popular with today’s TV-
oriented child.
Many of them are laid out in the same sequential
manner as comic books and have wide appeal to
different age levels.

37. Wordless Books
Textless books are surprisingly helpful in
developing some of the skills necessary for
reading.
Skills such as handling the book, turning the
pages, beginning at the left-hand side and
moving to the right give the child a sense of
direction and the experience of acting like a
reader.

38. Wordless Books
These books are also useful in stimulating
language development through encouraging
children to take an active part in story telling.
As the child relates the story, he/she will become
aware of beginnings, endings, the sequence of
the story, the climax, and the actions of the
characters.

39. Wordless Books
“Reading”, or telling what is happening in the
pictures in a wordless book, also requires specific
comprehension skills.
To help children tell the story, pictures must
show action and sequence clearly so children will
not be confused in their tellings.
Children should be given the opportunity to
examen the book and look through it completely.

40. Books about the Common
Experiences of Young Children
Increasingly, publishers are producing books
that mirror the common everyday experiences
and feelings of preschoolers.
In these books for 2 through 5 year olds the
illustrations are simple and clear.
The young child’s activities and concerns are at
the center of the action, but frequently the
humor is directed at the parent reader.

41. Books about the Common
Experiences of Young Children
These books develop themes related to children’s
personal experiences such as fear of the dark,
fear of staying alone, getting lost and assurance
of being needed.
Although young children need books that mirror
their own feelings and experiences, they also
need books to take them beyond those
experiences and to help their imaginations soar.

42. Books for the Beginning
Reader
Learning to read begins at home with children
hearing stories on their parents’ laps and seeing
loved ones value books.
Children lucky enough to have had such a wide
exposure to books will usually learn to read
easily and fluently.
The importance of reading aloud to young
children, if they are to be successful in learning
to read, has been consistently proven by
researchers.

43. Books for the Beginning
Reader
Theories of reading emphasize the importance of
reading for meaning and enjoyment from the
very start of learning to read.
Stories that children love and have heard over
and over again have natural language and
satisfying plots that encourage reading.
Many of these books utilize repetitious language
and story patterns that help children learn to
read naturally as they join in on the refrains or
predict the action of the story.

44. Books for the Beginning
Reader
Some books can also be an instructional scaffold or a
temporary help in the child’s first attempts to read.
Such books include familiar texts like Mother Goose
rhymes or songs that children know by heart and can
easily “read”.
As children explore a variety of texts, they learn how
books work.
Repeated readings are extremely important because
each time a book is revisited, new understandings are
gained.

45. Books for the Beginning
Reader
Beginning readers are able to read and learn
from challenging, difficult texts.
It is unnecessary to provide specialized texts with
severely limited controlled vocabulary for
beginning readers.
There are three categories of books that support
children in gaining reading fluency...

46. Predictable Books
Books that can help emergent readers can be
identified by such characteristics as repetitive
language patterns or story patterns or the use of
familiar sequences like numbers, the days of the
week, or hierarchical patterns.
Frequently, texts combine several of these
characteristics in a single story.

47. Predictable Books
Many stories include repetitive words, phrases,
or questions that invite children to share in the
reading.
These visually appealing books offer children
interesting vocabulary within the context of the
predictable text.
Sound play in the text, makes children more
aware of the internal sounds of words and the
fact that language is made up of individual
sounds.

48. Predictable Books
This understanding - phonemic awareness -
seems to be crucial to emergent reading
strategies.
A certain level of phonemic awareness is
necessary for children to benefit from more-
formal reading instruction.
Repetitive story patterns also help the child
predict the action in the story.

49. Easy-Reading Books
Easy reading books used to contain stilted and
unnatural language, such as the Dick and Jane
series.
A new genre of books was created when Dr.
Seuss published The Cat in the Hat in 1957.
Good books for emergent readers are written
with a controlled vocabulary (deriving from the
Dolch vocabulary list of 220 words) for the young
child to read independently.

50. Easy-Reading Books
Research has shown that the meaning of the
story is far more important for ease of reading
than limiting vocabulary.
We should not accept a book just because it has a
beginning-to-read label.
Each book must be evaluated for literary
qualities, child appeal, and difficulty of reading.

51. Easy-Reading Books
Helping children choose the right book at the
right time is an important aspect of literacy
instruction.
We need not limit the emergent reader’s book
exposure to just predictable books.
Look rather for imaginative trade books with
natural language, a creative plot, and real child
appeal.

52. Big Books
Big books can be created in the classroom by
children with the help of teachers.
Commercial big books are expensive and do not
provide the same sense of ownership that comes
with the class-made book.
With today’s technology, programs can be used
to scan trade books and present them on a screen
for children to see and read along.