What kids love about books

Lessons from my 18 Month old Girl.

A spread from hospital dog

Zelda picks the books she wants me to read to her.

One of her favourites is ‘Hospital Dog’.

One thing she loves about this book is that on ever page there are objects and words that she recognises.

On this page some of the words she knows are:

Duck, Balloon, Blue, Yellow, Bed, Shoes, Mummy,Baby Monkey, Dog, Cat, Orange and Star. She loves it more if the words she knows appear in the story.

I believe this is the reason she picks this book from her collection time and time again.

Another reason is that there are a lot of people and kids doing things, and Zelda loves watching people doing things; bonus points if they are things she knows how to do.

Julia Donaldson (author) and Sara Ogilvie (illustrator) are masters of this craft. On my own I could admire the line work and composition. But it was only through the act of reading and watching my daughter engage with the book did I come to understand some of the magic of their craft.