Read Talk Play: Baby Steps to Reading

Following in the footsteps of sage texts such as Read to Your Bunny (Wells, 1997), the three books contained in Read Talk Play: Baby Steps to Reading walk parents and babies through the joy of interacting and reading. Comprised of three previously published board books, Baby Talk, Let’s Read! and Baby Play, this new edition includes breaks between each book with information for parents and guardians. The new edition will find a happy home in nurseries, libraries and resource centres alike.

McDougall and LaRamee-Jones have carefully considered the ways in which early literacy is shaped by a young child’s interaction with words, sounds, physical books and adult readers. Their expertise in the field of early literacy shines through as they teach guardians the value of reading, sitting with and even chewing on books. The guidance for parents between each book focuses on three main areas of literacy: reading, language acquisition and play (physical literacy). A new section at the end of the book features the words to several well-known nursery rhymes for parents to use with their child.

Many images in the book have been updated from the previous books and feature an even more diverse cast of babies and caregivers. It is well-known that babies enjoy looking at the faces of other babies, and Read Talk Play takes that to heart. The babies and families featured in these books will give our youngest readers plenty of opportunities to see all sorts of babies at play; a detail that is both well considered and timely.