Kids Just Wanna Have Fun

The best way to encourage early literacy is also the most amusing

By Renea Arnold and Nell Colburn -- School Library Journal, 2/1/2004

We think fun is a key word when it comes to early literacy. Learning to read is hard work for most children—and kids, like adults, enjoy things that bring them pleasure. So as professionals who work with young children, our job is to make sure that kids discover the joy of books. And one of the best ways to do that is by providing children with exciting, memorable reading experiences.

In the past two years, the Public Library Association and the Association of Library Service to Children (a division of the American Library Association) have joined forces with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to disseminate the latest research findings on how children learn to read. The research pinpoints six emergent literacy skills—the building blocks that kids need in order to learn to read and write successfully when they begin school.

The first essential skill is "print motivation," defined by NICHD as "a child's interest in and enjoyment of books." In other words, kids must be motivated if they are to become readers. In the future, we'll be writing about all six of the emergent literacy skills. But underlying all that we say is the notion of print motivation—all of the other skills are built upon it.

When we work with parents and caregivers, we encourage them to start with the youngest kids. We tell adults: surround babies with board books. Let them handle them, and don't worry if they chew on them. This is a baby's way of enjoying a book. Make a fuss over the books. Make book sharing a special time. At home or in a child-care center, the pleasure of being nurtured by a loving adult with a book in hand will encourage children to associate books with delight throughout their lives.

We also tell parents, caregivers, and preschool teachers to let kids know that you think books are special. Let them know that you love to read. Let them see you reading on your own. Take every opportunity to remind kids that someday they will know how to read books all by themselves. Take your child to the library and treat each visit as a special outing.

Then there are the books themselves. Choose lots of humorous ones, get everyone laughing. Use books that encourage kids to participate, books like Rod Campbell's Dear Zoo (Little Simon, 1982), Roberta Grobel Intrater's Peek-a-Boo,You! (Scholastic, 2002), and Michael Rosen's We're Going on a Bear Hunt (McElderry, 1989). Books like these draw young listeners into the storytelling and guarantee that they have a good time.

Below is a short list of our all-time favorite books to share with preschoolers. They are our favorites, of course, because they have been so much fun to read aloud, again and again over the 25 years we've each been working with children. They are books we couldn't live without (even though some of them, alas, are now out of print). We'll have lots more to say in upcoming columns about what makes a book work well with different ages of preschoolers. But in the meanwhile, remember to do what the early literacy research advises: make reading fun, and everything else will follow.