Help your grandchildren learn to read by sharing 1,000 stories
Experts say children need to hear at least 1,000 stories before they begin to learn to read. Grandparents make amazing reading partners and can play a key role in helping their grandkids reach that reading goal. Plus, reading together has the added benefit of strengthening the bond grandparents have with the little ones in their lives.
“Hearing your voice, sitting side by side, and holding a book together create a reading experience that will have a positive influence on a child,” says Lonestar Stone, a librarian with the Greater Victoria Public Library. “Forming positive associations with reading is a key step for children learning to read.”
And, Lonestar adds, “Grandparents have had years to practice their reading skills and are experts at making reading fun, interesting and meaningful.”
Stone, who specializes in children’s material, says babies also benefit from being read to.
“Hearing your voice forming words and sounds is important to developing literacy skills. Let babies play with cloth or board books; it will strengthen their interest in reading.”
To help caregivers and their grandchildren to reach the 1,000-book milestone, librarians at the Greater Victoria Public Library created a selection of 100 exceptional picture books to entertain, educate and inspire young children again and again.
Below, GVPL shares a sample of the recommendations for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. See the complete list at gvpl.ca/100books then snuggle up and share these wonderful stories for a meaningful, memorable winter.
Babies
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Pam Adams
King Baby by Kate Beaton
Hello Humpback! by Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd
When I Grow Up by Emma Dodd
Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett
Where’s Spot by Eric Hill
Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins
One Some Many by Marthe Jocelyn
Sweetest Kulu by Celina Kalluk
We Sang You Home by Richard Van Camp
Toddlers
Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox by Danielle Daniel
Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming
You Hold Me Up by Monique Gray Smith
Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin
Scribble by Ruth Ohi
Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann
If You’re Hoppy by April Pulley Sayre
Duck on a Bike by David Shannon
Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard
Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson
How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? By Jane Yolen
Preschoolers
Stanley’s Party by Linda Bailey
A Day With Yayah by Nicola Campbell
I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child
Buddy and Earl by Maureen Fergus
Corduroy by Don Freeman
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
The Wolf’s Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen
The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
The Best Pet of All by David LaRochelle
The Imaginary Garden by Andrew Larsen
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
The Good Little Book by Kyo Maclear
They Say Blue by Jillian Tamaki
Owl Babies by Martin Waddell
Chester by Mélanie Watt
