I just love books! I don't think there is a "bad" book choice for a child, however we can focus on choosing better books. It's like those healthy food ads-choose this vs that. Instead of choosing chips have carrots! You might still reach for that bag of chips, but at least you know your options.
It's important to make educated decisions, so I'll give you some tips on things to look for when choosing books for children under 6. Don't put pressure on yourself to be perfect with this. Your child might love the Berenstain Bears or Dr Seuss books, and that's okay. I'd just recommend having the majority of your books fit the following criteria. As your child gets older, their imagination starts to develop and they can choose from a wider selection of books.
Things to look for:
Book topics should be realistic. This means that if it's fiction, the story could actually happen. Your child is making sense of the world and connections to their own lives will happen when reading stories.
Illustrations should also be realistic. Choose books with photographs or illustrations that show characters that are proportionate to each other and their background. So, Clifford the Red Dog isn't the best choice here. Again, your child is learning how to categorize new concepts and things, so it's confusing if dogs can talk or are larger than people. When they get older, they will understand why those things are so funny.
Here are some books that we love reading:
and of course we have read "Goodnight Moon" and "Goodnight Gorilla" more times than I can count.
What are your family's favourite books?
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