Follow the Squiggly, Zigzag-y Road!
Writing To Build Readers
“Talk, Sing, Read, Write, Play!” These are the five activities that help build reading skills every day that you hear about in the Tulsa City-County Library’s Build A Reader storytimes. I am going to briefly expand on the importance of writing.
Interactive books like Follow That Line encourage children to actively engage with the book, like tracing their fingers along the various lines and loops and zigzags. I think this is a fun read for any age, and it will spark an interest in the illustrations and words that accompany the fun squiggles.
The attributes in Follow That Line! will help increase print awareness in children, help them understand that those scribbles and shapes have meaning, and those “scribbles” give life to the stories they love reading! When their scribbles become letters, children will “eventually link these letters to salient sounds in words.” (Bingham and Gerde 56). S is no longer just a silly line; S is /s/ for sky. Although tracing their fingers along lines in the book is not as physically engaging as other tangibles, like Play-Doh, sand, or shaving cream, it is still just as important in the overall learning of writing skills!
Here are some other interactive books, like Follow That Line, that you can find at any Tulsa City County Library location.
- Little Plane Learns to Write by Stephen Savage
- Linus the Little Yellow Pencil by Scott Magoon
- Press Here by Hervé Tullet
- Tap! Tap! Tap! By Hervé Tullet
-- Kena Hardin, Children's Associate, Central Library Children's Department
Work Cited:
Bingham, Gary Eldon, and Hope K. Gerde. “Designing Writing EXPERIENCES: Guiding Principles for Early Writing Development.” Literacy Today (2411-7862), vol. 41, no. 3, Jan. 2024, pp. 56–57. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink? id=71efad71-487d-3fc5-bf78-1974c57f7748.