The Hanen Book Nook

Welcome to the Hanen Book Nook! We're excited to share some of our favourite children’s books and talk about ways you can use them with young children to promote their emergent literacy skills. Every month, we take a fun children’s book off our shelf and talk about some simple ways you can use it to build the critical foundations of learning to read and write.

We hope you enjoy it!

This Month's Featured Topic:

By Antoinette Portis
 


What are emergent literacy skills?

Emergent literacy skills refer to everything children need to know before they can learn to be successful readers and writers. Studies have shown that children who start school with higher levels of these skills have greater academic success.

Emergent literacy skills include:

  • Vocabulary – How many words a child understands is one of the most important factors in learning to read. The more words a child knows, the easier it is for her to learn new words and to gain meaning from the stories she reads.
  • Story comprehension – Experience listening to and understanding stories will eventually make it easier for a child to read and write stories on her own.
  • Print knowledge – Before a child can read and write, she must understand how print works. For example, she’ll need to know that print is made up of letters of the alphabet, that letters combine to make words and that print is read from left to right.
  • Sound awareness – To be prepared to read, children must understand that words can be broken down into syllables and smaller sounds, and that letters correspond to certain sounds.

Many emergent literacy skills can be picked up during book reading, but the way you share books with children can make a big difference to how much they learn about literacy. I’ll be sharing helpful tips and strategies for how you can tweak the way you share books with children so that you can best support their early literacy development.

Reading with, not to, your child

To make sure your child is getting the most out of book reading, it has to be an enjoyable activity, where he or she is actively engaged. Rather than reading the book from start to finish while the child sits and listens, saying very little, reading with your child means turning book reading into a conversation.

To read with your child, pause during the reading to ask questions and make comments. This will give your child the opportunity to answer questions and share his or her own thoughts and feelings on what’s happening in the story.

As a child engages in a conversation, she can draw on her knowledge and experience to make new connections, form new knowledge and build language skills. The better her conversational skills now, the easier it will be for her to understand what she reads later on.

For tips on making book reading interactive for young children, see “Creating Conversation with Good Night, Gorilla”.

Creating Conversation


Chosen Book:

Good Night, Gorilla
by Peggy Rathmann


Where the ideas come from

The strategies we share in the Book Nook are from our two research-based guidebooks on building emergent literacy:

ABC and Beyond™ – For building early literacy in the classroom

This guidebook offers educators practical strategies to make the most of everyday conversations and shared book reading to help all children in the classroom build a solid foundation of early literacy skills.

Learn more                  Purchase




I’m Ready™ – For building emergent literacy in the home

This guidebook helps parents turn book reading and everyday activities into opportunities to build the critical early literacy skills that prepare their child for school success.

Learn more                  Purchase


 

Repeat, repeat, repeat!

Many of my entries in the Book Nook involve reading the book more than once. This is because practice makes progress! The more you read a book, the deeper you can delve into its meaning. Furthermore, children learn through repetition and usually enjoy reviewing books they already know. Try reading the same book 3-5 times over the span of a week or two.

How we hope you'll benefit from the Book Nook

There are so many books to choose from, and many possible emergent literacy skills to focus on. Where do we start? Sometimes the amount of choice can be overwhelming. By providing concrete examples of how we use some of our favourite books to support emergent literacy, we hope to inspire you to do the same, whether you are reading with children in a classroom or at your kitchen table!


Past topics

 

 

Relating to Children’s Experiences with

Chosen Book:
Leave Me Alone!
By Tony Mitton and Guy Parker-Rees

Building Phonological Awareness with

Chosen Book:
Alien Tea
By Tony Mitton and Guy Parker-Rees

Building Print Knowledge with

Chosen Book:
My Truck Is Stuck
by Brendan Wenzel

Building Perspective-taking Skills with

Chosen Book:
They All Saw a Cat
by Brendan Wenzel

Making Predictions with

Chosen Book:
Let’s Go for a Drive
by Mo Willems

Building Story Comprehension

Chosen Book:
We Don’t Lose Our Class Goldfish
by By Ryan T. Higgins

Building Vocabulary

Chosen Book:
Rosie Revere, Engineer
Written by Andrea Beaty Illustrated by David Roberts

Turn Book Reading into a Conversation

Chosen Book:
Little Messy Marcy Su
by Cherie Fu and Julie Kwon

Building Sound Awareness

Chosen Book:
Franklin’s Bad Day
by Paulette Bourgeois

Building Sound Awareness

Chosen Book:
Pete the Cat and the Perfect Pizza Party
by Kimberly and James Dean

Building Print Knowledge

Chosen Book:
Snuggle Puppy!
by Sandra Boynton

Explaining

Chosen Book:
Bruce's Big Move
by Ryan T. Higgins

Problem Solving

Chosen Book:
Smelly Socks
by Robert Munsch

Introducing Rare Vocabulary

Chosen Book:
Mama Built a Little Nest
by Jennifer Ward

Developing Story Comprehension

Chosen Book:
We Don’t Eat Our Classmates
by Ryan T. Higgins

Evaluating the Story

Chosen Book:
The Good Egg
by Jory John

Turning Book Reading into a Conversation

Chosen Book:
Don't Push The Button!
by Bill Cotter

Building Early Vocabulary

Chosen Book:
Miki Takes a Bath
by Stéphanie Babin, Illustrated by Julie Mercier

Relating to Children's Experiences

Chosen Book:
Why Do We Cry?
by Fran Pintadera and Ana Sender

Building Interaction in Children on the Autism Spectrum

Chosen Book:
Good Dog, Carl
by Alexandra Day

Explaining Why Things Happen

Chosen Book:
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
by Laura Joffe Numeroff

Incorporating Pretend

Chosen Book:
Pretend
by Jennifer Plecas

Sound Awareness

Chosen Book:
The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear
by Don Wood

 

Introducing Rare Vocabulary

Chosen Book:
What's Inside a Flower?
by Rachel Ignotofsky

 

Building Print Knowledge

Chosen Book:
Dragons Love Tacos
by Adam Rubin

 

Predicting

Chosen Book:
Dragon Stew
by Steve Smallman and Lee Wildish

 

Problem-solving

Chosen Book:
What Should Danny Do?
by Ganit and Adir Levy

 

Building Vocabulary

Chosen Book:
Steam Train, Dream Train
by Sherri Duskey Rinker, Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld

 

Building Perspective-taking Skills in Children on the Autism Spectrum

Chosen Book:
One Frog Too Many
by Mercer and Marianna Mayer

 

Turning Book Reading into a Conversation

Chosen Book:
The Pout-Pout Fish
by Deborah Diesen, illustrated by Dan Hanna

 

Relating to Your Child's Experiences

Chosen Book:
The Berenstain Bears' Moving Day
by Stan and Jan Berenstain

 

Building Sound Awareness

Chosen Book:
Where is the Green Sheep?
by Judy Horacek

 

Building Print Knowledge

Chosen Book:
The Book with No Pictures
by B.J Novak

 

Building Abstract Vocabulary

Chosen Book:
How Do You Feel?
by Anthony Browne

 

Making Predictions

Chosen Book:
Boomer's Big Day
by Constance W McGeorge

 

Turning Book Reading into a Conversation

Chosen Book:
Blue Hat, Green Hat
by Sandra Boynton

Developing Story Comprehension

Chosen Book:
The Paper Bag Princess
by Robert Munsch


 

Explaining Why Things Happen

Chosen Book:
Mmm Cookies!
by Robert Munsch

 

Building Sound Awareness

Chosen Book:
The Snail and the Whale
by Julia Donaldson

Incorporating Pretend

Chosen Book:
There's an Alligator Under My Bed 
by Mercer Mayer

Building Print Knowledge

Chosen Book:
A Big Guy Took My Ball! 
by Mo Willems

Creating Conversation

Chosen Book:
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day 
by Judith Viorst

Introducing Rare Vocabulary

Chosen Book:
All About Animals: Bears
by Catherine Lukas

Learning Print Knowledge

Chosen Book:
Scaredy Squirrel
by Melanie Watt

Early Vocabulary

Chosen Book:
From Head to Toe
by Eric Carle

Problem-solving

Chosen Book:
The Very Cranky Bear
by Nick Bland

Turning Book Reading into a Conversation

Chosen Book:
Look!
by Jeff Mack

Explaining why things happen

Chosen Book:
Lost and Found
by Oliver Jeffers

Building Sound Awareness

Chosen Book:
Llama, Llama, Mad at Mama
by Anna Dewdney

Understanding Story Structure

Chosen Book:
The Three Little Pigs
by Rh Disney

Relating to Your Child’s Experiences with Franklin’s New Friend

Chosen Book:
Franklin’s New Friend
By Paulette Bourgeois

Building Print Knowledge

Chosen Book:
The Monster at the End of This Book
by Jon Stone and illustrated by Michael Smollin

Building Early Vocabulary

Chosen Book:
Where’s Spot?
By Eric Hill

Building Sound Awareness

Chosen Book:
Jillian Jiggs
by Phoebe Gilman

Building Story Comprehension

Chosen Book:
Ish
By Peter H. Reynolds

Building Perspective-taking Skills in Children with Autism

Chosen Book:
A Birthday for Cow
by Jan Thomas

Building Problem Solving Skills

Chosen Book:
The Day the Crayons Quit
by Drew Daywalt and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

Building Print Knowledge

Chosen Book:
Over-Scheduled Andrew
written and illustrated by Ashley Spires

Building Vocabulary

Chosen Book:
Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly
by Jane O’Connor, Illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser

Building Sound Awareness

Chosen Book:
Little Blue Truck
by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Jill McElmurry

Books for Kids Who Don’t Like Books

Chosen Book:
The Ultimate Book of Vehicles

Predicting with This Is Not My Hat

Chosen Book:
This Is Not My Hat
by Jon Klassen

Putting it All Together

Chosen Book:
Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse
by Kevin Henkes

Developing Story Comprehension

Chosen Book:
Something from Nothing
by Phoebe Gilman

Building Your Child’s Print Knowledge

Chosen Book:
There’s a Giraffe in My Soup
by Ross Burach

Helping your child understand why
things happen with The Gruffalo

Chosen Book:
The Gruffalo
Julia Donaldson

Building Letter-Sound Awareness

Chosen Book:
Happy Baby
by Sarah Kappely

Building Early Vocabulary

Chosen Book:
Dear Zoo
by Rod Campbell

Building your child's print knowledge

Chosen Book:
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
by Mara Alperin

Relating Franklin Has a Sleepover to Your Child's Experiences

Chosen Book:
Franklin Has a Sleepover
by Paulette Bourgeois

Developing Story Comprehension

Chosen Book:
Just a Mess
by Mercer Mayer

Building Sound Awareness

Chosen Book:
Room on the Broom
by Julia Donaldson

Building Vocabulary

Chosen Book:
Giraffes Can’t Dance
by Giles Andreae

Creating Conversation

Chosen Book:
Good Night, Gorilla
by Peggy Rathmann


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