My first love was reading and my favorite book in Kindergarten was “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom”. Over the years, my love for reading grew into a love for writing and the rest is history. When I finally became a mom, I knew that I wanted to instill the value of reading in my daughters.
Mix my love of reading for my love of celebrating everything (you name it and I have probably made my family celebrate it) and I make it my mission to find the most festive books for my girls’ personal libraries. Before I share this month’s fa-boo-lous finds, let me share a few statistics on the importance of early literacy:
- By 3 years of age, there is a 30 million word gap between children from the wealthiest and poorest families.
- 34% of children entering kindergarten lack the basic language skills needed to learn how to read.
- 65% of fourth graders read at or below the basic level.
Encouraging reading at an early age is important, isn’t it? So, let’s get to the list for this season:
Where is Baby’s Pumpkin by Karen Katz is a lift-the-flap book that you’ll probably recognize right away. Your little one can find the pumpkin through an adorable peek-a-boo style that helps teach them permanence, too.
Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson follow the journey of a witch who loses all of her must-haves with the help of some fun creatures.
Little Blue Truck’s Halloween by Alice Schertle follows the same fun that the original Little Blue Truck’s Beep Beep brought to us. There are creative illustrations and rhymes that are easy for little ones to understand.
Five Little Pumpkins by Tiger Tales is our household favorite. The illustrator, Ben Mantle, brings the pumpkins to life and the familiar poem makes my girls laugh – hopefully your little ones will, too.
Skeletitos by Susie Jaramillo is still relatively new (2017) and celebrates the Mexican tradition of Dia de los Muertos/Day of the Dead. The mainly black and white illustrations with pop of colors share the message that time is fleeting, but there’s plenty of time to have fun. BONUS: There’s downloadable content for more fun when the book is done!
As you can probably tell most of these books are for younger readers (my girls are 2 and under), so please be sure to leave your recommendations for Halloween or Day of the Dead books in the comments.
P.S. You can learn more about Raising Readers through this great article by the NY Times.
I’ve found, with an age spread between kids, that even the older ones will come around when you’re reading to the younger ones. My ten year old got a kick out of Room on the Broom when I was reading it with my 6-year-old. Love these recommendations . . . there’s a few we haven’t read yet!
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