What makes a great picture book?
By Bogey Bear
The first essential is that the story is told in BOTH words and pictures. This engages young bears and children no matter what their age is because it allows them to be a storyteller too, even before they are readers.
A great picture book should also be about something that appeals to young folks, though it can be something simple. Children love stories about other children, families, and the different things they may see in their lives. A great picture book can also let children experience what they have not seen before.
When we read books to babies, todlers, soon-to-be, and emerging readers, a great picture book is also fun for us! When we enjoy the story, it is more likely it will be enjoyed by those that we share it with. Try to find books that you find interesting too.
Here are some of my favorite picture books – books I enjoyed having read to me as a little bear and books that I enjoy reading to other little bears. I am sure children enjoy them too!
But please remember, children need more than being read to in order to develop ready-to-read skills, what educators call "early literacy skills". These consist of:
- Print Motivation. Teaching children that reading is fun represents an important first-step in getting them ready to read. Click HERE for more.
- Phonological Awareness. Playing with the sounds in words, including rhymes, initial sounds, and breaking words into syllables. Click HERE for more.
- Narrative Skills. Telling stories and describing things and sequences of events. Click HERE for more.
- Enriched Vocabulary. Knowing the different names of things. Click HERE for more.
- Print Awareness. Knowing how to handle a book, follow words on a page, and noticing that printed words are all around us. Click HERE for more.
- Letter Knowledge. Knowing the difference between how letters look, their names, and their sounds. Click HERE for more.