Training Guides for the Head Start Learning Community:
Emerging Literacy: Linking Social Competence to Learning
Appendix E


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Books for Young Children


Babies and Young Toddlers

Cloth and soft vinyl books with simple pictures of familiar objects are appropriate for babies. These books can be washed and sanitized after babies chew them. (Example: Lucy Cousins' series of soft, cloth books filled with foam such as Hen on the Farm.)

Board books are similar to cloth and vinyl books, except they have cardboard pages. Older babies and toddlers like these books because they fit in their hands and the pages are easy to turn. (Example: Clap Hands, by Helen Oxenbury.)

Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers

Participation books invite children to do something--touch a page, lift a flap, put a finger in a hole. (Example: Spot's First Picnic from the Spot series, by Eric Hill, and Pat the Bunny, by Dorothy Kunhardt.)

Picture concept books have large illustrations or photographs and a few words on each page. They focus on familiar objects or abstract ideas such as colors, shapes, opposites, or sizes. Picture concept books have cardboard, cloth, or vinyl pages for babies and toddlers or paper pages for older toddlers and preschoolers. (Example: Exactly the Opposite, by Tana Hoban.)

Wordless picture books tell a story through pictures and few or no words. Children can read the story by looking at the pictures or make up a new story to go with the illustrations. (Example: The Good Dog Carl series, by Alexandra Day.)

Beginning picture storybooks tell a story through many illustrations and a few words per page. The stories often have a single theme and focus on daily life activities that are familiar to most young children. (Example: So Much, by Trish Cooke.)

Traditional literature includes nursery rhymes, fairy tales, familiar stories, fables, and folk tales from a variety of cultures. These stories often come from the oral tradition of storytelling. (Example: Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Tale from China, by Ed Young.)

ABC and counting books present the alphabet and numbers in fun, imaginative ways with bright, colorful illustrations. (Example: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, an alphabet book by Bill Martin, Jr., and John Archambault, and Ten Little Rabbits, a counting book by Virginia Grossman and Sylvia Long.)

Predictable books include patterned text, repetitive words and phrases, and predictable plots. Children like them because once they remember the story and repeated words and phrases, they can join in at story time and later retell the stories to themselves. (Example: Jump Frog Jump, by Robert Kalan.)

Poetry books include one, richly illustrated poem or a collection of poems appropriate for young children. (Example: Honey, I Love, by Eloise Greenfield.)

Older Toddlers and Preschoolers

Informational books provide facts and realistic pictures or photographs about specific topics such as buildings, dinosaurs, trains, nature, geography, seasons, or life in other countries. (Example: Bread, Bread, Bread and Houses and Homes from the People around the World series, by Ann Morris.)

Picture storybooks tell a story through illustrations and words. One book may have multiple themes. Picture storybooks present everyday life, discuss real-life challenges, address fears children face, and explore feelings about changing life experiences (such as moving to a new home). Some picture books include nonsense and fantasy (silly words, characters, and stories). Examples include the following:

Easy-to-read books are for emergent readers who can read by themselves. These books use a limited vocabulary, often have rhymes, and are usually predictable. They are designed to help children learn to read and are not meant to be great literature. (Examples: The Frog and Toad series, by Arnold Lobel, books by Dr. Seuss, and the Little Bear series, by Else Minarik.)

Reference books that children can use with the help of adults include very simple dictionaries (in English and home languages), nature guides, cookbooks, and instruction manuals for computer software. (Example: Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes, by Mollie Katzen.)

Big books are very large versions of popular books. Some are available in English and Spanish. Reading big books aloud lets a small group of children see the print and the illustrations. This lets children hear the words and follow along with the print as they do during family story times. The large type also helps children tell the difference between print and pictures. (Examples: Freight Train, by Donald Crews, and Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey.)

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