Book Review: Goodnight Moon

Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown. A classic. Who has not heard this story? It is available in many languages, as well as in board book, hard back, and paperback form. I highly recommend the boardbook version for toddlers, as the need to chew on everything becomes off the charts during the teething period.

This book is designed to help children in many ways. To begin with, there is repetition. The author pretty much says goodnight to everything in the book. There are also many animals in this story-rabbit, kitten, cow, bears, a stuffed monkey, and yes, don't forget the all important mouse. There are many things starting with "m"-ie, moon, mush, mittens, and mouse. And of course there is rhyming text, which also provides repetition and familiarity. The book has a very even flow, meaning the way the text is written, it makes it easy to read, and easy for a child to follow along.

I haven't touched on this yet, but in my next post I will go over the differences of reading to your children verses reading with them, and also touch on reading "at" them. Goodnight Moon is an excellent book to read with your child. You can ask so many questions on the colored pages...the black and white ones to be sure aren't as exciting, but they still provide entertainment-particularly the "goodnight nobody" page. My daughter loves that page, and she is 15 months old. You can ask your child to find certain things on each page-the mouse provides serious fun in this regard. I remember doing this myself as a child, and my favorite "find the mouse" page is when everyone is asleep EXCEPT the mouse-he is checking out the stars. My sister's favorite find the mouse page was when he's hovering over the bowl of mush. My daughter likes the one where he is hanging over the bookshelf. To each their own. But that is the whole point. Do what works for YOU with this book, just do something. Don't just read it without talking about the pictures. You can count animals on each page. You can talk about different colors. You can go over beginning sounds. You can even relate it to personal experiences..."we saw a rabbit the other day...remember?" The mush one children either love or hate. My daughter abhors mush. I am hoping this will change, as I love my oatmeal/porridge...but it may not, and that is ok too.

I would recommend this book from 0-6 years old. Once kids can read it by themselves, the book gets re-visited again, but this time on a new level, as THEY are the ones reading it to YOU. :)

I would recommend this book

An Introduction

This blog will mainly be about reading. There will be book reviews and critiques, as well as ways to motivate children to read. This is not intended to be the end all, but rather to give those parents with reluctant readers ideas that might help their children gain confidence in themselves, and become more interested in actually reading rather than in avoiding it if at all possible. If you are a teacher, and have come across this blog, you already know many of these things, but, like me, you are one of the achievers who strive to learn more, which is why you found this site. I hope you are able to take some of these ideas in the future for your classroom as well, and please feel free to comment. Being a teacher for many years has taught me how important it is to be flexible, and that what works for one might not work for another. Feel free to take my ideas and tweak them to make them your own.

I have been involved with education in some shape or form for the past 20 years. I've taught both overseas and in America, where I presently live. My past few years I was a reading teacher at a school in town. While I am certified to teach many different grades, my passion is for the lower primary children, and my strengths are definitely teaching reading.

Many parents come to me after their child is born and say, "We want to get a good start with our child with reading. At what age should we start introducing books?" My answer surprises them. Start now. No time like the present. The trick is to make sure you read TO your child, not AT them. I will be covering this in more detail in the next post, as well as what is appropriate to read, what would stimulate interest even in an infant, etc. For now, I'll leave you with this thought-when was the last time you read a book for enjoyment?