Growing up in a bilingual household was fun and sometimes a little confusing. My friends' parents read them books, but my mom took a different approach. While she would read me the story, she wasn't precisely reading all the text, just the pictures.
Did you know there is no right or wrong way to read with your child? While we encourage parents to read to their child every day, sometimes on particular days, you just can't due to a busy schedule or a toddler who doesn't want to read today, and that's okay!
But sometimes we have moments where we can read pictures together and guess what? That's okay!
Today I picked up Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter by Kenard Pak. I love these books so much, but since I have a niece who would rather play with her toys than listen to me, I decided to change it up.
While I gathered her puzzles and toys on the playmat, I still brought along my copy of Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter. I read the pictures. I pointed to the boy and girl, the animals, the leaves, the colors on the pages, how it was daytime and then turned to nighttime, how there were leaves, and then there was snow. While there were many breaks making animal noises and not much reading of that text, it was still okay.
If you attended one of our Build A Reader Storytimes, you know our song. Talk, Sing, Read, Write, and Play.
That day we talked about the book and how her favorite horse plushie toy had a friend, another horse in the story. We sang using our voices to make noises and animal sounds, we read the pictures and some text, we used our writing fingers to point at objects in the book and objects around the house. We played, made that time unique and special, and then we decided to drink some milk and take a nap.
What I learned from my mom and what I learned as a children's librarian is that it's okay to read pictures, and it's okay to make Storytime at home your own unique special time.
-Stephanie Huaman, Teen Associate, Martin Regional Library